GIFT  OF 


17  19?t 


Profit  and  Pleasure 


•jFfG$F*HUfpF 

GAME- 

FARMING 

PROFIT 


A  MANUAL 

on  the  wild  turkeys  ,  grouse  ,  quail  or 
partrid$es,wiJd  ducks  and  the  introduced 
pheasants  and  gray  partridges;  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  their  food,  habits',  control 
of  natural  enemies  and  the  "bestTnct'icvi^ 
of  preserving  and  breeding:  including,  a)so, 
an  appendix  on  powder,  Iqa  gl?  ._  eti  .  ,  - 


•tfie  author  of 
"OUR  FEATHERED  GAME" 

Fulbf  illustrated  with  photographs 
original  drawings 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

FOREWORD 3 

RESTORATION 5-9 

Former  abundance  of  game ;  Game  laws  have  not  saved  it ;  Field  sports  promote 
health ;  Their  restoration  through  game  breeding  of  great  economic  importance ; 
Prejudice  against  breeders  founded  on  ignorance;  Wild  bred  better  than  hand 
reared  birds;  Beat  keepers  and  hand  rearing  keepers. 

GAME  ENEMIES 10-14 

Control  vermin  and  good  shooting  results;  Foxes;  Coyotes;  Wolves;  Mountain 
lions;  Lynxes;  Minks;  Weasels;  Snakes;  Hawks;  Owls;  Turtles;  Crows; 
Skunks;  Traps;  Pole  traps;  Poison;  Cats;  Dogs;  Rats;  Destruction  of  covers. 

THE  WILD  TURKEY 15-18 

Propagation  important  because  of  diseases  among  domestic  turkeys;  Four 
species;  Habitat;  Commercial  breeding;  Hand  rearing;  Enemies,  Foods; 
Market  prices. 

AMERICAN  QUAILS  OR  PARTRIDGES 19-24 

Five  genera  and  thirteen  species;  Comparison  with  European  partridges; 
Terms  "quail"  and  "partridge;"  Breeding  habjts;  Good  shooting  at  quail  clubs 
with  small  dues;  California  mountain  quail;  Valley  quail;  Gambel's  quail; 
Scaled  partridge  and  chestnut-bellied  scaled  partridge;  Mearn's  quail. 

BOB-WHITE 25-27 

Range;  Preserves;  Artificial  breeding;  Hand  rearing  unnecessary;  Food  habits. 

THE  GROUSE  OF  THE  OPEN  COUNTRY 28-33 

Extinct  in  entire  states;  Will  vanish  from  cultivated  regions  until  it  pays  to 
preserve  them;  Attention  from  sportsmen  needed;  At  present  practically  no 
shooting;  The  sharp-tailed  grouse;  The  sage  cock;  The  heath-hen. 

TE;H:  /PPAIRIE  GROUSE 34-39 

<  Raiige ;  Reasons!  f  c*»r  i|cS>  extinction  in  many  places ;  Food  habits ;  Hand  rearing 
experiments  unsuccessful;  Can  be  made  abundant  if  bred  wild;  Farms  in 
"qaic'K'ei?"  country  row  posted;  Grouse  shooting  in  Scotland  attracts  Ameri- 

-r'.anS;  Scotch  grouse  prou.uced'.on  small  area;  Small  part  of  available  lands  in 
this"  ccfuhlfy  sko aid  fell  markets  with  cheap  grouse;  Cost  of  wild  breeding  small. 

THE  GROUSE  OF  THE  WOODS  AND  MOUNTAINS 40-43 

Ptarmigans;  Canada  or  spruce  grouse;  Blue  or  dusky  grouse. 

RUFFED  GROUSE 44-47 

Artificial  propagation  partially  successful  but  undesirable;  Food  habits; 
Covers;  Enemies;  Nests. 

WILD  DUCKS 48-53 

Duck  breeding  in  England;  Methods  of  rearing;  "Straddles;"  Cramps; 
Enemies;  Feeding;  Mallards  and  black  ducks;  Wood  ducks;  Breeding  of  all 
species  should  be  encouraged  by  laws;  The  sea  ducks. 

THE  PHEASANTS 54-58 

Introduction  to  England  and  America ;  Other  introduced  game  birds;  Pheasants 
thrive  if  protected  from  vermin;  Several  thousand  breeders  in  this  country; 
Complaints  of  damage  to  crops;  Dark-necked  and  ring-necked  pheasants; 
Other  varieties;  Successful  small  breeders;  Market  prices;  Methods  of  hand 
rearing;  Shooting  over  dogs  and  by  driving. 

THE  GRAY  PARTRIDGE 59-60 

An  unsuccessful  experiment;  Success  in  Ohio;  Efforts  to  introduce  them  should 
continue. 

APPENDIX 61-62 

Twelve  gauge  loads  suggested  for  field  shooting:  Comparative  loads;  "Bulk" 
and  "dense"  smokeless  and  black  powder. 

ADVERTISEMENTS.  ...  .   63-64 


FOREWORD 

r  •  THIS  little  book  is  offered  to  the  people  of  North  America 
-I   in  the  hope  that  it  will  hasten  the  day  when  our  continent 
shall  produce  enough  game  to  supply  abundant  food,  and  health- 
giving  recreation. 

The  author  predicts  that  America  will  eventually  be  the 
greatest  game  producing  country  in  the  world,  and  we  believe 
he  points  the  logical  way  for  the  fulfillment  of  this  prophecy. 
It  is  time  for  us  to  unite  in  creating,  through  our  own  industry, 
a  wealth  of  wild  life  to  take  the  place  of  that  which  nature  gave 
us,  and  we  so  thoughtlessly  destroyed.  Heretofore  our  energies 
have  been  mainly  expended  in  trying  to  bring  back  the  game 
by  prohibitory  legislation.  Our  laws  have  said,  "You  must 
not  kill  game,"  instead  of  "You  may  raise  game."  These  laws 
have  undoubtedly  done  much  good  in  a  negative  way,  but 
they  offer  no  real  solution  of  the  problem.  They  are  not 
creative.  Some  of  them  we  shall  probably  need  always,  but 
many  of  them  will  become  obsolete  shortly  after  laws  per- 
mitting game  breeding  are  enacted.  Prohibitions  which  seem 
important  when  there  is  little  game  to  protect  will  become 
superfluous  when  a  large  supply  is  constantly  maintained. 

In  promoting  game  breeding,  the  Hercules  Powder  Company 
naturally  considers  its  own  interests,  but  fortunately  they  are 
inalienably  linked  with  the  country's  welfare  in  this  important 
matter.  We  feel  no  hesitancy  in  asking  all  sportsmen  who 
believe  our  efforts  are  in  the  right  direction,  to  support  them  by 
giving  us  their  patronage. 

We  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  our  indebtedness  to  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History  for  photographs  and 
drawings  made  from  its  collections.  They  appear  on  pages 
11,  21,  24,  30,  32,  35,  40,  41,  42,  43,  45,  51  (bottom  of  page), 
53,  56,  58,  60. 

444276 


roimiAnmrcA  had, 

years  ago,  a  greater  number  and 
variety  of  valuable  wild  food  birds 
than  any  country  in  the  world.  The 
records  of  two  guns  shooting,  with 

muzzle-loaders,  over  a  hundred  wood-cock  in  a  day,  quite 
near  New  York;  of  the  shooting  of  over  a  hundred  bay  snipe 
at  a  single  discharge;  of  the  shooting  of  wagon  loads  of  prairie 
grouse  and  wild  ducks,  seem  incredible,  but  they  are  authentic 
as  recorded  in  our  ornithologies.  Bogardus  tells  us  that  with 
a  friend  he  shot  three  hundred  and  forty  Wilson's  snipe  one  day, 
in  Illinois,  and  Mr.  Pringle,  in  his  history  of  "The  Snipery," 
in  Louisiana,  records  the  taking  of  thousands  of  these  tooth- 
some birds  during  a  season,  shooting  day  after  day  over  marshes 
near  the  house.  Cody  (Buffalo  Bill)  records  the  killing  of  four 
or  five  hundred  wild  turkeys  at  one  camp  in  the  West.  The 
placing  of  a  bounty  on  the  ruffed  grouse,  in  Massachusetts, 
because  it  was  considered  too  abundant  for  the  successful  grow- 
ing of  fruit;  the  destruction  of  prairie  grouse,  in  Kentucky, 
because,  as  Audubon  says,  they  were  regarded  as  pests,  and 
many  more  recent  records  might  be  cited  to  prove  the  former 

5 


great  abundance  of  our  true  game  birds  of  the  upland  and  our 
wild  fowl  and  waders.  The  writer  was  present  one  day,  in 
Ohio,  when  the  bag  contained  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  quail 
besides  ruffed  grouse  and  wood-cock,  and  a  few  wood-duck  and 
miscellaneous  birds  and  rabbits  for  good  measure.  The  bags 
always  were  large  although  we  shot  day  after  day  over  a  com- 
paratively small  area. 

Our  ornithologists  and  sporting  writers  deplore  the  rapid 
disappearance  of  this  wonderful  food  supply  and  often  they 
predict  the  extermination  of  game  in  America.     Some  recom- 
mend,   continually,    more    stringent    game    laws,    limiting   or 
prohibiting  sport,  but,  since  the  game  has  continued  to  vanish 
notwithstanding   such   enactments,    many   have   doubted   the 
possibility  of  saving  the  more  valuable  upland  species  if  any 
shooting  be  permitted.     There  is  good  reason  for  the  doubt. 
A  large  and  ever  increasing  number  of  guns,  each  taking  only 
a  tew  birds  during  a  short  open  season,  undoubtedly  produces 
the  same  result  which  was  produced  by  a  smaller  number  of 
guns,  each  taking  a  larger  number  of  birds  during  a  long  open 
season.    All  naturalists  agree  that  the  absolute  prohibition  of 
field  sports  does  some  good  only  when  the  species  has  not  been 
too  much  decimated  to  survive  its  natural  enemies.     All  agree 
that  even  a  little  shooting  is  too  much,  unless  the  game  enemies 
be  controlled,  because  any  slight  additional  check  to  the  in- 
crease of  a  species  must  cause  it  rapidly  to  decrease  in  numbers. 
The  prohibition  of  sport,  which  we  have  been  facing,  is  highly 
undesirable.  Fortunately  we  now  know  that  it  is  unnecessary. 
Field  sports  need  no  defence  or  apology  in  so  far  as  the 
readers  of  this  little  book  are  concerned.     Their  enemies  do 
not  realize  the  importance  of  the  health-giving  exercise  which 
they  denounce,  or  the  economic  value  of  the  food  which  field 
sports    can    be    made    to    produce.     The    distinguished    orni- 
thologist, Elliot,  in  his  book  on  our  gallinaceous  game  birds, 
refers  to  the  pleasure  they  yield  and  the  incentive  they  provide 
for  action  and  effort,  "when  in  the  leafy  aisles  of  whispering 
forests,  or  in  the  thickets  and  along  the  banks  of  the  leaping 
stream,  or  in  the  open  sky-encircled  prairie,  man  in  his  quest 
for  these  game-like  creatures,  aided  by  his  faithful  dog,  finds 

6 


renewed  health  and  strength  to  wrestle  with  the  toils  and 
troubles  of  his  daily  life." 

The  food  value  of  our  game  birds  becomes  more  and  more 
important  as  the  prices  of  beef  and  mutton  continue  to  rise, 
as  it  seems  they  must,  as  population  increases.  The  restora- 
tion of  field  sports  and  the  propagation  and  practical  protection 
of  our  game  birds  have  become  of  great  economic  importance. 
I  am  pleased  to  observe  that  the  tendency  of  our  legislation  is 
in  the  direction  of  encouraging  the  profitable  production  of 
game.  I  firmly  believe,  with  the  aid  of  intelligent  State  Game 
Officers,  the  sportsmen  and  game  farmers  of  America  can  make 
the  game  birds  more  plentiful  than  they  ever  were,  using  only 
a  small  portion  of  the  lands  suitable  for  game  which  long  have 
been  posted  against  all  shooting.  As  we  shall  observe,  the 
natural  enemies  of  game  and  the  dogs  and  cats,  and  illegal 
gunners  must  be  controlled  on  some  of  the  breeding  grounds  if 
field  sports  are  to  be  perpetuated  in  America.  Since  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  our  game  be  properly  preserved  and 
multiplied  on  some  of  the  farms  with  the  farmer's  consent,  I 
am  in  favor  of  it.  There  is  no  danger  of  game  preserving 
being  overdone.  The  country  is  too  big.  We  should  remem- 
ber, also,  that  for  the  most  part  it  must  be  done  on  the  farms 
where  shooting  already  is  prohibited  and  that  such  industry 
can  harm  no  one. 

The  area  of  the  public  forests  and  parks  in  America  is  said  to 
be  larger  than  the  area  of  Germany.  The  area  of  our  public 
waters  and  marshes,  where  sport  is  free  to  all  comers,  is  many 
times  as  big  as  such  areas  are  in  the  older  countries,  where 
the  market  gunners  are  permitted  to  shoot.  Our  prejudice 
against  the  producers  of  game  has  disappeared  rapidly  and  now 
that  we  know  our  game  must  become  extinct  if  any  shooting 
be  permitted  and  no  one  looks  after  its  increase,  I  predict  that 
all  prejudice  against  the  producers  soon  will  vanish  just  as  the 
prejudice  against  many  modern  inventions  has  vanished  when 
it  was  ascertained  to  be  founded  upon  an  ignorance  of  the  good 
results  soon  to  follow.  In  the  states  where  game  breeding  has 
been  encouraged  by  legislation  there  is  no  longer  any  objection 
to  such  industry.  A  broiled  grouse,  properly  served,  may  be 
made  to  convert  an  enemy  of  sport,  and  an  abundance  of  game 

8 


in  our  markets  will  make  most  of  the  people  friendly  to  those 
who  shoot  it.  The  amount  of  game  which  now  is  being  reared 
throughout  the  country  indicates  that  good  sport  soon  will  be 
restored  for  all  hands  during  a  long  open  season,  beginning 
with  the  prairie  grouse  in  August  and  ending  with  the  wild 
fowl  before  the  nesting  season  in  the  spring. 

All  of  the  grouse  and  quails  or  partridges  are  best  reared  in  a 
wild  state  on  protected  areas.  It  is  by  such  methods  that  the 
European  grouse  and  gray  partridges  have  been  made  tre- 
mendously plentiful  everywhere  and  are  kept  so  although  the 
markets  are  fully  supplied.  Wild  bred  birds  are  the  cheapest, 
since  they  find  much  of  their  food  in  the  fields.  They  are  more 
easily  reared,  since  they  are  more  free  from  diseases  than  hand- 
reared  birds.  They  are  better  for  sport  on  account  of  their 
wildness  and  better  for  the  table,  on  account  of  their  flavor, 
than  the  hand-reared  birds. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  game  keeping  and  two  kinds  of  game 
keepers.  The  beat  game  keepers  simply  look  after  the  wild 
breeding  birds  on  the  areas  or  beats  assigned  to  them,  usually 
from  1000  to  1500  acres.  They  control  the  enemies  of  the 
birds,  see  that  their  natural  covers  and  foods  are  adequate 
and  when  the  game  becomes  abundant  as  it  will  quickly  when 
so  protected,  additional  foods  often  are  provided,  especially 
during  the  winter.  The  hand-rearing  keepers  are  similar  to 
poultry-rearers.  Their  methods  will  be  referred  to  fully  in 
the  chapters  on  the  pheasants  and  the  wild  ducks  which  are  the 
birds  handled  by  these  keepers. 


'Co  no j  n#  Jbac 


is  the  name  given  to  the 
numerous  enemies  of  game  birds,  by 
the  English  writers  and  game  keepers. 
Captain  Maxwell,  in  his  book  on  Par- 
tridges, devotes  a  chapter  to  vermin  and 
the  methods  of  its  control,  and  the  English 
sporting  magazines  often  give  space  to 
stories  of  the  destruction  of  game  by  its 
enemies  and  the  best  means  for  preventing  such  loss.  Until  a 
few  years  ago  the  word  vermin  was  not  mentioned  in  our  sport- 
ing literature,  and  few  sportsmen  realized  the  amount  of  game 
destroyed  annually  by  predaceous  animals  and  the  absolute 
necessity  for  controlling  them  if  we  would  continue  to  shoot. 
Owen  Jones,  in  "Ten  Years  of  Game  Keeping,"  says:  "Let 
the  keeper  look  after  the  vermin  and  the  game  will  look  after 
itself,  is  a  saying  which  has  stood  the  test  of  time."  Fryer, 
an  authority  on  gray  partridges,  tells  us  the  control  of  vermin 
"is  an  all  important  matter  and  one  that  affects  the  stock 
even  more  than  the  weather  at  hatching  time."  Macpherson, 
in  his  book  on  the  grouse,  says  it  is  necessary  to  supplement  a 
good  supply  of  food  for  the  grouse  by  waging  war  against  its 
four-footed  and  winged  persecutors.  Darwin  believes  that 
if  shooting  were  stopped  in  England  there  would  be  less  game 
than  at  present  although  hundreds  of  thousands  of  animals 
are  annually  shot.  All  naturalists  are  aware  that  a  large  number 
of  the  game  birds  and  their  eggs  are  destroyed  by  predaceous 
animals  every  year,  otherwise  the  game  would  soon  overrun 
the  earth.  The  tendency  to  increase  is  tremendous.  It  is 

10 


Foxes, 
3  Coyote. 
4- Snapper. 
5 
6 
7 


11 


well  known  that  nature  preserves  a  delicate  balance  and  that 
if  for  any  reason  additional  causes  of  destruction  or  checks  to 
the  increase  of  any  species  be  added,  the  species  quickly  will 
become  reduced  in  numbers,  and  that  soon  it  will  become 
extinct,  if  the  check  to  increase  be  serious.  A  little  shooting 
by  many  guns,  for  example,  surely  will  put  an  end  to  the  game 
if  none  of  the  natural  enemies  be  controlled  to  make  a  place  for 
the  shooting.  The  converse  of  the  proposition  is  well  stated 
by  Darwin:  "Reduce  the  checks  to  increase  even  slightly  and 
the  species  will  increase  quickly,  to  any  amount."  It  is  evident 
why  the  game  remains  abundant  where  it  is  protected  from  its 
enemies  and  why  it  vanishes  in  America,  so  that,  often,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  enact  laws  prohibiting  shooting.  I 
know  many  game  keepers  in  all  parts  of  America  who  keep  the 
shooting  good  because  they  control  the  vermin.  Thousands 
of  quail  can  be  and  are  safely  shot  in  places  where  the  hawks, 
crows,  foxes,  snakes,  weasels,  and  many  other  natural  enemies 
are  trapped  and  shot  persistently. 

Horace  G.  Hutchinson,  in  writing  about  the  Scotch  grouse, 
said,  "The  death  of  one  stoat  means  the  life  of  many  grouse." 
Our  prairie  grouse  are  preyed  upon  by  hawks  as  well  as  by  foxes 
and  many  other  furry  and  winged  enemies,  and  skunks  take 
many  birds  and  eggs.  The  result  is  we  have  no  grouse  shooting. 
The  woodland  grouse,  the  wild  fowl  and  waders,  the  partridges  or 
quails,  all  suffer  similar  losses  and  we  can  not  shoot  many  birds 
without  causing  them  rapidly  to  decrease  in  numbers.  The  intro- 
duced pheasants  and  partridges  suffer  even  more  from  vermin 
than  our  indigenous  birds  do,  because  they  come  from  places 


is  6r_  wit! 


where  vermin  has  been  steadily  controlled,  and  they  are  more 
innocent  of  the  dangers  due  to  lurking  foes  than  our  birds  are. 

Since  the  necessity  for  looking  after  some  of  the  breeding 
grounds  and  protecting  them  from  vermin  is  now  apparent 
it  follows  that  such  industry  should 
be  encouraged  by  legislation,  as  it 
now  is  by  the  game  breeders'  laws 
which  recently  have  been  enacted  in 
many  states.  The  excellent  shooting 
which  the  game  breeders  provide  for 
themselves  results  in  restocking  the 
neighborhood,  and  game  breeding 
associations  have  become  popular — 
especially  those  which  have  small 
dues  and  provide  good  shooting 
for  many  guns.  It  would  be  im- 
possible here  to  do  more  than  mention  some  of  the  more  im- 
portant game  enemies  and  the  methods  of  their  control. 

The  fox  is  regarded  as  a  deadly  enemy  of  all  ground  nesting 
birds  and  the  game  is  known  to  suffer  much  from  this  sly  animal. 
I  have  photographs  showing  the  destruction  of  ruffed  grouse 
by  foxes,  on  the  snow;  and  the  many  feathers  and  bones  found 
in  the  fox's  den  indicate  that  the  young  foxes  are  fed  on  game. 
Other  grouse,  quail,  partridges,  woodcocks  and  wild  fowl  are 
eagerly  devoured  by  the  fox. 

In  the  West  the  coyote  and  other  wolves  are  very  destructive, 
not  only  to  game  birds,  but  also  to  deer  and  antelope.  The 
mountain  lion,  or  cougar,  and  the  lynx  are  equally  destructive. 
Minks  and  weasels  hunt  wantonly  and  kill  far  more  game  birds 
than  they  can  eat.  There  are  records  of  minks  killing  scores  of 
birds  in  a  night,  and  only  a  few  days  ago  I  had  a  report  from  a 
breeding  ground,  in  which  I  am  interested,  stating  that  a  weasel 
had  destroyed  many  young  pheasants  and  that  rattlesnakes  also 
were  eating  the  young  birds.  These  snakes  and  black  snakes 
and  others  not  only  eat  young  birds,  but  they  destroy  old  birds 
on  the  nest  and  devour  many  eggs.  I  have  seen  young  pheas- 
ants as  large  as  quail  taken  from  snakes  which  were  killed  by 
keepers.  A  fox  terrier  is  often  used  to  locate  snakes  and  these 
pests  are  easily  destroyed  with  a  club  or  gun,  when  found. 

A  number  of  hawks,  notably  the  Coopershawk,  goshawk, 
and  red  shouldered  hawk,  put  in  much  of  their  time  killing  and 
eating  game  birds  and  I  have  observed  some  of  the  smaller 
hawks,  which  are  deemed  to  be  beneficial  birds,  destroying 
quail  and  pheasants.  There  are  records  of  the  duck-hawk 

13 


hunting  wantonly  and  striking  down  many  ducks  during  a 
chase  through  the  air,  without  stopping  to  eat  them. 

The  larger  owls  are  fond  of  game  birds  and  often  kill  young 
wild  turkeys  and  other  birds  roosting  in  trees.  Turtles  destroy 
many  young  wild  ducks  and  there  is  a  list  of  many  other  enemies, 
all  of  which  do  some  damage  and  some  of  which  do  great 
damage  at  times.  Crows  are  persistent  destroyers  of  young 
game  birds  and  eggs  and  I  have  observed  them  taking  young 
poultry.  Skunks  do  far  more  damage,  I  am  sure,  than  some 
naturalists  are  inclined  to  admit.  Farmers,  who  have  observed 
these  animals  taking  poultry,  know  that  they  can  take  wild 
birds  and  their  eggs  even  more  easily.  The  shotgun  and 
many  traps  are  the  remedies  used  by  most  game-keepers. 
The  traps  used  are  the  ordinary  steel  traps  used  to  catch  minks, 
weasels,  skunks,  and  other  animals,  and  small  round  steel 
traps  called  pole  traps,  which  are  as  easily  set  on  poles  as  the 
common  ground  traps  are  set  on  the  ground.  The  pole  traps 
should  be  set  on  high  poles  and  on  the  higher  branches  of  the 
trees  which  are  frequented  by  hawks  and  crows.  On  no  account 
should  they  be  set  on  low  fence  posts  and  in  small  trees,  since 
they  may  destroy  song  birds  and  I  even  have  known  them  to 
kill  bob-whites  when  so  placed.  The  traps  can  be  procured 
from  any  hardware  store.  Some  favor  the  use  of  poison,  which 
is  very  fatal,  of  course,  when  used  with  tempting  baits.  Valuable 
animals  and  even  people  have  been  killed  by  poisoned  eggs, 
and  the  use  of  poison  is  no  longer  approved  by  many  keepers 
and  in  some  places  its  use  is  prohibited. 

The  cutting  down  of  briars  and  other  protecting  covers  for 
the  game  birds  exposes  them  to  their  enemies,  and  in  some 
places  the  game  cannot  survive  even  when  shooting  is  pro- 
hibited. Cats,  dogs,  and  rats  are  added  to  the  list  of  enemies 
and  tend  to  upset  nature's  balance  in  populous  regions.  It 
is  very  evident  that  something  more  than  laws  limiting  the 
bag  and  shortening  the  shooting  season  is  absolutely  necessary 
if  field  sports  are  to  be  perpetuated  in  America. 

Often  people  may  be  heard  to  say  that  game  was  abundant 
when  no  vermin  was  destroyed.  This  is  quite  true;  immense 
numbers  were  produced  in  order  to  supply  the  needs  of  vermin. 
The  birds  left  were  intended  to  restock  the  fields  and  woods. 
It  does  not  follow  that  an  army  of  guns  can  safely  shoot  these 
stock  birds.  The  game  can  stand  the  losses  due  to  vermin 
or  the  losses  due  to  shooting,  but  not  both.  In  the  older 
countries  it  survives  tremendous  losses  due  to  shooting  because 
the  vermin  is  controlled  and  the  birds  are  properly  looked  after. 

14 


KEY 


restoration  and  propagation  of  wild 
turkeys  has  become  of  great  economic 
importance  because  our  domestic  turkeys 
are  decimated  by  a  disease,  which  has 
made  it  impossible  to  rear  them  on  vast 
areas  where  turkey  breeding  was  an  im- 
portant industry.  Fortunately  the  wild  birds,  which  are  com- 
paratively free  from  diseases,  can  be  introduced  and  quickly 
made  abundant  in  many  places  throughout  their  former  range, 
from  Southern  Maine  and  Canada  to  Florida,  and  westward 
to', Wisconsin  and  Arizona.  The  breeding  range,  no  doubt,  can 
be  much  extended  since  the  wild  turkeys  have  been  introduced 
successfully  in  California  and  other  Western  states. 

Our  ornithologists  recognize  four  species  of  wild  turkeys: 
the  common  wild  turkeys  of  the  Eastern  states;  the  Florida 
turkey,  which  is  somewhat  smaller  and  darker  than  the  Eastern 
bird;  the  Elliot's  Rio  Grande  turkey,  a  handsome  species 
found  in  the  lowlands  of  Southern  Texas  and  Eastern  Mexico; 
and  the  Mexican  wild  turkey  (from  which  came  all  our  domestic 
turkeys),  which  is  distinguished  by  the  light  rump  with  broad 
white  borders  to  the  feathers.  But  to  the  sportsman  all  these 
forms  are  alike  good  game  birds  when  they  go  whirring 
through  the  woods  like  big  ruffed  grouse,  and  all  are  regarded 
as  far  better  on  the  table  than  the  best  domestic  birds. 

Wild  turkeys  inhabit  the  forest,  but  wander  out  into  fields 
in  their  search  for  food,  and  they  can  be  successfully  introduced 
in  farming  regions,  where  the  woodlands  are  not  large,  provided 
a  number  of  farms  be  included  in  one  preserve.  The  so-called 
"  more  game  "  movement  in  America  has  resulted  in  many  experi- 
ments with  wild  turkeys.  They  have  been  bred  in  a  wild  state 
on  the  great  quail  preserves  in  North  Carolina,  where  I  have  seen 

15 


16 


them  nesting  quite  near  farm  buildings.  Here  they  are  protected 
from  their  natural  enemies,  and  from  cats  and  trespassing  gun- 
ners, by  skilled  game  keepers.  In  the  absence  of  such  care  they 
never  could  have  been  restored  and  in  the  absence  of  the 
keepers,  here  as  elsewhere,  they  soon  would  become  extinct. 

The  late  Professor  Blanton,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  was  the 
first  to  breed  wild  turkeys  commercially  in  America,  and  in 
an  interesting  account  of  wild  turkey  breeding,  written  for 
The  Game  Breeder's  Magazine,  he  said  he  hatched  some  young 
wild  turkeys  in  a  hotel  room,  using  an  electric  light  for  his 
incubator.  The  Woodmont  Rod  &  Gun  Club,  of  Maryland, 
has  reared  large  numbers  of  these  birds  for  sport  and  had 
about  a  thousand  turkeys  last  season.  This  number  easily 
can  be  increased.  Mr.  Bridges,  a  member  of  the  club,  has 
several  hundred  wild  turkeys  on  his  farm  near  Baltimore. 
There  are  many  commercial  game  farmers  and  some  importers 
who  sell  live  wild  turkeys  and  their  eggs.  These  have  sold 
wild  turkeys  which  have  gone  to  breeders  in  the  South  and  as 
far  west  as  California. 

The  Game  Breeders  Association  on  Long  Island,  N,  Y., 
made  some  simple  experiments  with  wild  turkeys  purchased 
in  Virginia.  One  hen  which  nested  wild  in  the  woods  laid 
ten  eggs  which  were  lifted  by  a  game-keeper  and  hatched 
under  a  barnyard  fowl.  The  turkey  persisted  in  laying  and, 
although  her  nest  was  robbed  a  second  time,  she  brought  off 
a  brood  of  seven  or  eight  birds.  Twenty-six  eggs  were  hatched 
from  this  bird,  which  indicates  that  nature's  records  easily  are 
beaten  when  eggs  are  stolen  and  young  birds  are  hand-reared. 
From  all  the  experiments  above  referred  to,  the  industry  of 
breeding  wild  turkeys  for  sport  and  for  profit  has  received  a 
great  impetus  and  I  predict  that  the  markets  soon  will  be  filled 
with  cheap  wild  turkeys  since  the  tendency  of  sport  is  to  overdo 
things  when  it  undertakes  game  breeding. 

It  is  important  to  keep  down  the  natural  enemies  of  turkeys 
and  to  wire  the  ground  enemies  out  from  the  rearing  fields. 
Do  not  make  the  birds  too  tame.  Turkeys  are  easily  domesti- 
cated and  when  too  tame  for  sport  they  will  probably  suffer 
from  the  diseases  which  destroy  our  tame  birds.  The  laws 
should  not  compel  the  breeding  of  game  birds  "in  captivity"  as 
some  statutes  read.  The  food  of  young  wild  turkeys  is  largely 
grasshoppers;  later  they  eat  berries,  and  in  the  autumn  and 
winter  acorns  and  mast  of  various  kinds  are  the  principal 
food.  Acorns  are  staple  and  when  plentiful  they  will  keep  the 
turkeys  at  home  and  when  they  fail  the  turkeys  will  migrate 

17 


unless  they  be  properly  fed  with  grain,  nuts  or  other  foods. 
They  are  very  fond  of  pecans  and  in  the  South  they  eat  many 
of  these  nuts.  Woodlands  for  food  and  cover  and  grassy  open- 
ings bordering  fields  for  grasshoppers,  make  ideal  ground  for 
wild  turkey  preserving. 

Wild  turkeys  are  now  quoted  from  $15  to  $20  for  gobblers; 
$20  to  $25  for  hens.  Turkeys,  like  other  pheasants  are  polyg- 
amous :  one  gobbler  and  from  three  to  six  hens  make  the  proper 
groups  for  breeding.  The  eggs  sell  readily  at  $10  to  $12  per 
dozen.  These  prices  undoubtedly  will  fall  somewhat  in  a  few 
years;  and  the  prices  for  turkeys  in  the  markets  soon  should  be 
lower  than  the  price  of  domestic  turkeys  now  is,  when  some 
big  turkey  "shoots"  are  started  in  the  West  and  South.  Tur- 
keys can  be  reared  cheaply  on  areas  where  their  natural  foods 
are  abundant  and  sport  will  pay  a  good  part  of  the  cost  of 
production.  Wild  turkeys  can  be  successfully  introduced,  no 
doubt,  on  the  wild  fowl  preserves  about  the  Great  Lakes  and 
in  Canada,  where  mast  bearing  woods  adjoin  the  marshes. 
They  have  been  introduced  successfully  and  are  breeding  on 
the  state  refuges  in  the  Pennsylvania  mountains,  and  with 
proper  attention  soon  they  can  be  made  abundant  in  many 
places  throughout  their  former  range,  and  in  states  where 
they  were  not  indigenous.  Doubtless,  the  destruction  of  the 
forests  had  much  to  do  with  the  disappearance  of  the  wild 
turkeys.  Elliot  ascribes  the  loss  to  "too  much  shooting, 
chiefly";  but  I  am  inclined  to  charge  it  to  the  lack  of  practical 
preservation  since  the  turkeys,  like  other  game  birds,  will 
stand  a  lot  of  shooting,  provided  they  be  protected  from  their 
natural  enemies  and  provided  they  have  suitable  covers  (even 
small  ones  will  do)  and  an  abundance  of  food. 


American  quails  or  partridges 
differ  in  size  from  the  partridges 
and  quails  of  Europe.  They  are 
smaller  than  the  old  world  partridges, 
and  larger  than  the  little  migratory 
quail.  The  five  genera  and  thirteen 
species  found  in  North  America  are  all  handsome  game  birds, 
excellent  in  the  field  and  on  the  table;  one  of  them,  the  bob- 
white,  I  regard  as  the  best  game  bird  in  the  world. 

There  are  many  forms  of  bob-white,  which  have  been  clas- 
sified as  sub-species  by  the  ornithologists.  Some  of  these 
inhabit  Mexico.  Within  the  United  States  we  have  two 
species,  the  ordinary  quail  or  partridge  of  the  Northern  states 
and  the  masked  or  black-throated  bob-white  which  is  found  in 
limited  numbers  in  southern  Arizona  and  more  abundant  in 
Sonora,  Mexico.  The  sub-species  are  the  Texas  bob-white, 
a  somewhat  smaller  bird  and  lighter  in  color  than  the  Northern 
form  and  the  Florida  bob-white  which  is  much  darker  and  some- 
what smaller  than  the  Northern  bob-white.  They  all,  includ- 
ing the  masked  bob-white,  have  similar  habits,  lie  well  to  the 
dog  and  equally  well  on  the  plate,  and  they  all  sound  the 
cheery  notes,  "Bob-White,"  in  the  mating  season.  Our  birds 
are  more  similar  in  their  appearance  and  habits  to  the  European 
partridges  than  they  are  to  the  old-world  quails,  which  are 
migratory.  In  Virginia  and  the  South  the  birds  are  more 
often  called  partridges;  in  the  Northern  states  they  are  called 

19 


quail.  The  use  of  the  word  "quail,"  however,  is  becoming 
common  in  parts  of  the  South  because  many  Northern  men  and 
clubs  now  have  quail  preserves  in  the  South,  where  the  shooting 
is  good,  always,  because  the  birds  are  properly  looked  after. 
Now  that  we  are  introducing  the  gray  partridge  of  Europe  the 
term  quail,  applied  to  our  indigenous  species,  may  be  useful  to 
distinguish  the  birds. 

The  other  American  quail  are  the  California  mountain  and 
valley  quail,  the  Gambel's  quail,  a  bird  somewhat  similar  in 
size  to  the  California  valley  quail,  the  two  forms  of  the  scaled 
quail  and  the  peculiar  Mearn's  quail  which  resembles,  somewhat, 
a  little  guinea-hen.  These  Western  and  Southwestern  quail 
all  are  handsome  birds  and  they  are  very  good  to  eat,  but  often 
they  run  before  the  dogs  and  they  are  not,  on  this  account, 
such  desirable  objects  of  pursuit  as  the  bob-white. 

Our  quail  are  monogamous.  They  build  their  nests  on  the 
ground  and  lay  numerous  eggs.  One  pair  of  any  species  and  its 
progeny  would  produce  five  or  six  million  birds,  at  a  low 
estimate,  in  eight  years  if  there  were  no  losses;  so  that  it  is 
evident  that  these  birds  quickly  can  be  made  tremendously 
abundant,  as  the  gray  partridges  are  in  Hungary,  by  looking 
after  them  properly.  This  means,  simply,  to  check  or  to  reduce, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  losses  due  to  their  natural  enemies  and  to 
climate;  to  stop  the  entire  destruction  of  the  covers  and  the 
loss  of  natural  foods;  to  protect  the  birds  against  fires,  floods, 
and  illegal  destruction  (especially  during  the  nesting  season). 

I  have  visited  many  places  where  these  matters  have  been 
attended  to,  and,  at  some  of  them,  the  birds  were  fully  as 
abundant  as  it  was  desirable  to  have  them;  and  they  remain 
plentiful  although  thousands  are  shot  every  season.  Many 
quail  clubs  quite  near  New  York  have  purchased  and  introduced 
the  quail  on  lands  which  they  rent  for  this  purpose  and  they 
have  excellent  shooting  and  will  continue  to  do  so  until  the 
increasing  population  makes  it  impractical  to  have  game  of  any 
kind  so  near  a  large  city.  The  annual  dues  in  some  of  these 
clubs  are  only  $10  or  $15  and  the  sport  and  the  food  obtained 
are  well  worth  the  money.  In  many  places  there  would  be  no 
birds,  and,  of  course,  no  shooting  without  such  industry.* 

*Quail  shooting  is  prohibited  in  Ohio,  in  New  York,  excepting  Long  Island, 
and  is  prohibited  or  restricted  to  short  seasons  and  small  bags  elsewhere. 
These  restrictions  must  be  increased  everywhere  if  the  laws  prohibit  profitable 
quail  breeding. 

20 


**jr       "1 


QUAIL 


QUAIL 


21 


THE  mountain  partridge,  the  plumed  partridge,  and  the 
San  Pedro  partridge,  the  three  species  popularly  known  as 
California  mountain  quail,  are  so  much  alike  that  they  may  be 
regarded  as  the  same  for  sporting  purposes.  They  are  larger 
than  the  bob-whites  and  are  easily  distinguished  by  the  plume 
of  long,  straight  feathers.  The  length  of  the  plumed  partridges 
is  about  10  inches;  bob-white  is  about  7%  inches. 

I  did  not  find  these  birds  very  abundant  anywhere  in  my 
rambles  in  California,  but  Elliot  says  the  mountain  partridge 
is  rather  abundant  in  the  Willamette  Valley,  Oregon,  and 
common  in  parts  of  California.  The  plumed  partridge  inhabits 
the  drier  regions  of  the  interior  and  only  approaches  the  sea- 
coast  in  the  southern  portions  of  its  range.  The  San  Pedro 
species  inhabits  the  San  Pedro  Mountains,  Lower  California. 

The  flesh  of  these  beautiful  big  game  birds  is  palatable  and, 
although  they  do  not  perform  as  well  before  dogs  as  the  bob- 
whites,  they  are  well  worth  preserving  as  objects  of  sport  and 
for  food.  Like  other  upland  game  birds  they  have  vanished 
rapidly  and  they  are  extinct  in  many  places.  Something  more 
than  shooting  them  even  under  laws  providing  for  short  seasons 
and  small  bags  is  necessary  to  save  them  from  extinction. 
Game  keepers  easily  could  keep  them  fairly  plentiful  and  could 
preserve,  at  the  same  time,  the  big  dusky  grouse,  the  band- 
tailed  pigeon  and  many  California  valley  quails  on  properly 
protected  areas.  A  regulated  market  should  supply  the  funds 
to  support  the  needed  industry. 

The  food  of  the  young  is  largely  insects.  Later  the  birds 
eat  berries,  many  seeds  and  buds,  and  Elliot  says  they  eat 
grain  when  it  is  obtainable.  This  is  a  useful  hint  for  game 
preservers,  who  should  always  see  that  the  game  has  plenty  of 
food.  The  nests  of  the  plumed  and  mountain  partridges 
usually  contain  from  eight  to  ten  or  twelve  eggs. 


VALLEY  QUAIL  or  partridges  and  the  California  quail 
are  much  alike  in  size  and  markings.  The  valley  quail 
is  somewhat  paler  in  color  and  inhabits  the  interior  of  Oregon, 
Nevada  and  California,  south  to  Cape  St.  Lucas,  the  California 
species  being  more  a  native  of  the  coast  regions.  The  food 
habits  of  both  are  similar  to  those  of  the  other  quails.  Com- 

22 


plaints  have  been  made  that  these  birds  when  abundant  are 
injurious  to  vineyards.  In  addition  to  the  seed,  grains,  berries, 
buds  and  insects  the  game  preserver  might  well  plant  a  lot  of 
grapes  as  an  additional  food  supply  for  them.  No  doubt  they 
would  eat  raisins  in  winter,  as  pheasants  and  other  game  birds 
will,  and  condemned  raisins  or  raisins  of  the  cheaper  grades 
might  be  used  to  advantage  on  game  farms  and  preserves. 

Although  these  birds  are  found  abundant  in  warm  climates, 
they  also  thrive  in  mountainous  regions  and  they  can  stand  a 
lot  of  cold  and  snow  if  they  have  plenty  of  food  and  grit  and  are 
protected  from  the  furred  and  feathered  enemies  referred  to 
elsewhere.  They  run  before  the  dogs,  but  when  scattered  they 
often  afford  good  sport.  I  found  them  tremendously  abundant 
some  years  ago  when  from  thirty  to  fifty  covies  often  were  ob- 
served dusting  themselves  in  the  roads  in  an  afternoon's  drive. 


/^lAMBEL'S  QUAIL  is  a  beautiful  game  bird  somewhat 
vJ  similar  to  the  California  valley  quail,  but  it  has  the  same 
fault  and  often  relies  on  its  legs  when  the  sportsman  would 
prefer  to  see  it  use  its  wings.  The  range  includes  parts  of 
California  and  thence  east  through  Arizona  and  New  Mexico 
to  western  Texas.  A  few  years  ago  thousands  of  these  birds 
were  shot  for  the  markets  and  since  no  one  protected  them 
against  the  snakes,  hawks,  and  their  other  numerous  enemies 
they  quickly  became  extinct  in  many  places  and  were  threatened 
with  extinction  everywhere.  On  some  big  quail  ranches  in 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  in  charge  of  competent  game 
keepers,  these  birds  might  be  made  and  kept  far  more  plen- 
tiful than  they  ever  were,  and  such  industry  will  pay  as 
soon  as  birds  from  game  farms  can  be  sold  for  propaga- 
tion and  the  food  produced  can  be  freely  marketed.  It  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  profitable  breeding  of  these  birds  will 
be  undertaken  before  it  is  too  late.  These  birds,  like  the 
other  Western  and  Southwestern  partridges,  are  runners,  but 
they  are  said  to  afford  considerable  sport  when  they  are  scat- 
tered; like  the  others  they  are  very  good  to  eat.  The  lands 
they  inhabit  support  many  cacti,  which  afford  protection  from 
their  natural  enemies  but  which  are  bad  for  bird  dogs.  In 
addition  to  other  enemies,  including  wolves  and  snakes,  the 
Gil  a  monster  is  said  to  dine  on  this  partridge. 

23 


y\n   Odci    Oame  £neinjx--6ilai  rionster- 


THE  scaled  partridge  and  the  chestnut-bellied  scaled  par- 
tridge are  two  excellent  wild  food  birds,  identical  in  appear- 
ance save  that  the  last  named  has  a  chestnut  patch  on  the  belly. 
The  birds  are  found  in  the  Rio  Grande  Valley,  Texas,  and 
northern  Mexico;  the  first  named  form  is  found  also  in  New 
Mexico,  southern  Arizona  and  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  Like 
the  other  Western  birds  they  are  runners.  I  once  had  a  flock 
in  my  room  for  a  time,  and  the  speed  they  made  when  they 
started  on  a  course  around  the  room  against  the  wall  was  most 
remarkable.  I  would  have  backed  them  against  the  fastest 
Gambels  or  Valley  Quails  that  ever  ran  on  a  desert  or  prairie. 
The  country  inhabited  often  is  full  of  thorns  which  prevent 
the  use  of  dogs  and  render  the  shooting  comparatively  un- 
interesting. Natural  foods  undoubtedly  are  sufficiently  plenti- 
ful in  most  parts  of  their  range,  since  the  birds  once  were  very 
plentiful.  The  control  of  their  enemies  would  seem  to  be  all 
that  is  necessary  to  perpetuate  the  birds  for  sport. 
&  &  & 

MEARN'S  QUAIL  is  an  interesting  bird.  It  is  about  the 
size  of  bob-white,  but  it  is  unmistakable  on  account  of  its 
peculiar  markings.  The  head  is  black  and  brown,  marked  with 
white  as  indicated  in  the  illustration.  The  upper  parts  are  brown 
barred  with  black,  the  sides  of  the  breast  and  flanks  are  almost 
black  and  dotted  with  white,  which  causes  the  bird  to  look  some- 
thing like  a  dark  little  guinea-hen. 

I  have  never  shot  this  bird  and,  in  fact,  they  are  nowhere 
common,  and,  possibly,  now  are  extinct  in  the  United  States, 
excepting  the  birds  purchased  and  owned  by  breeders.  Their 
flesh  is  excellent  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  can  be  made  an 
attractive  addition  to  the  game  bag. 

24 


Dob-white  has  a  wide  range  through- 
out the  United  States  from  southern 
Canada  to  the  Gulf  states,  and  west- 
ward to  the  Great  Plains.  It  has  been  introduced  in  Colorado, 
Utah  and  as  far  west  as  California  and  Oregon.  In  a  Cali- 
fornia State  report,  a  few  years  ago,  it  was  stated  that  the 
birds  first  liberated  disappeared,  excepting  in  one  place  where 
they  were  protected  from  their  natural  enemies.* 

It  would  not  be  surprising  if  our  markets  be  supplied  with 
an  abundance  of  quail  from  Oregon  and  other  Western  states, 
since  the  people  are  enterprising  and  they  seem  to  understand 
the  value  of  practical  game  preservation. 

From  Massachusetts  north,  in  New  England,  and  in  the 
northern  parts  of  most  of  our  Northern  states  the  quail  suffers 
much  from  the  severe  winters  and  it  is  not  so  easily  kept  plenti- 
ful. But  stock  birds  have  been  trapped  in  cold  mountainous 
regions  and  held  in  barns  until  spring  with  very  little  trouble 
and  with  very  good  results,  and  some  birds  easily  might  be 
preserved  for  sport  in  all  of  the  Northern  states.  The  big  quail 
preserves  are,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  Carolinas  and  other 
Southern  states,  where  land  is  cheap,  natural  foods  are  abundant, 
and  where  the  climate  is  excellent  for  game  preserving.  On  the 

*Mr.  D.  Baldwin,  one  of  the  State  Game  Commissioners  of  Montana,  says 
in  The  Game  Breeder's  Magazine  that  twenty -four  bob-whites  were  purchased 
in  Kansas  by  a  few  sportsmen,  before  it  was  illegal  to  sell  birds  for  breeding 
purposes,  and  liberated  in  the  Kalispell  valley.  He  estimates  there  must  be 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  quail  in  the  valley. 

25 


A  Future  Covey  of  Quail. 


Southern  farms  the  birds  easily  are  kept  plentiful.  A  game 
keeper  once  asked  me,  as  with  good  dogs  we  strolled  over  his 
grounds,  where  thousands  of  quail  had  just  been  shot,  if  I  did 
not  think  he  had  too  many  birds.  Undoubtedly  he  had  and 
his  decision  to  "thin  them  out"  before  the  breeding  season  was 
correct.  I  regretted  that  the  birds  lost  in  the  "thinning" 
process  could  not  be  legally  marketed  for  either  propagation  or 
as  food.  Soon,  however,  I  predict  there  will  be  many  commer- 
cial game  farms  in  the  South  and  they  surely  will  make  a  lot  of 
money  until  the  business  is  overdone. 

Many  experiments  have  been  made  with  the  artificial  breed- 
ing of  bob-whites.  The  birds  lay,  even  in  small  pens,  and 
although  it  is  generally  believed  that  the  males  and  females 
have  decided  preferences  in  the  selection  of  their  mates,  pairs 
have  been  arbitrarily  mated,  often,  and  the  hens  usually  lay 
fertile  eggs,  and  persist  in  laying  when  the  eggs  are  stolen. 
Mr.  Herbert  Job  secured  over  seventy  eggs  from  one  quail 
and  the  Massachusetts  Commission  secured  over  a  hundred 
eggs  from  one.  Several  times  as  many  eggs  as  are  laid  in  a 
wild  state  can  be  counted  on,  and  artificial  breeding  would 
seem  to  be  inviting  to  sportsmen  and  to  commercial  game 
farmers.  But  the  experiments  thus  far  have  resulted  in  many 
losses  of  young  birds  by  diseases  and  no  one  has  succeeded  in 
producing  large  numbers  of  good  healthy  quail. 

The  hand-rearing  of  these  birds  is  not  necessary,  since  quickly 
and  inexpensively  they  can  be  made  to  swarm  on  protected 
areas,  when  breeding  wild,  and  wild  bred  birds  are  the  best  for 
sport  and  for  food.  I  am  inclined  to  predict  that  in  America 
as  in  England  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  artificial 

26 


breeding  of  quail  only  will  be  attempted  in  a  comparatively 
few  places  in  order  to  try  and  help  out  the  wild  breeding  birds 
which  for  any  reason  do  not  seem  to  thrive. 

The  quail  is  fond  of  farming  regions,  especially  where  wheat 
and  the  other  small  grains  are  cultivated.  It  thrives  in  the 
South  on  cow-peas  and  many  other  foods  which  are  plentiful. 
It  is  quite  as  important  to  see  that  the  foods  the  birds  require 
at  different  seasons  of  the  year  are  plentiful,  and  that  they 
have  proper  covers  and  protection,  as  it  is  to  see  that  the  enemies 
are  controlled.  Good  shooting  depends  on  a  proper  attention 
being  given  to  all  of  these  matters. 

Briars,  both  berry  and  flower  briars,  the  blackberry,  the 
wild  rose  and  many  others,  make  safe  and  attractive  covers 
and  they  also  furnish  much  food.  The  young  quails  live 
largely  on  insects  found  in  the  fields  and  woods.  Later  they 
eat  many  berries  and  the  seeds  of  plants,  including  weeds. 
In  the  fall  they  glean  the  stubbles  for  the  grain  lost  at  the 
harvest  and  in  winter  they  often  live  on  sumac,  wild  rose  hips 
and  other  plants  which  are  seen  above "  the  snow.  At  this 
season  many  birds  will  perish  unless  food  be  supplied.  A 
little  corn,  served  with  grit,  at  various  established  feeding 
places  will  save  hundreds  of  birds  during  a  severe  winter. 
Mr.  H.  J.  Montanus,  of  the  Middle  Island  Club,  near  New 
York,  informed  me  last  winter  that  their  quail  were  feeding 
regularly  at  many  established  feeding  places,  at  some  of  which 
several  covies  came  to  dine  together. 


27 


Or  THE  OPEN  (5UNTKV 


have  four  splendid  grouse  of  the 
open  country  which  formerly  were 
tremendously  abundant.  The  prairie 
grouse,  the  sharp-tailed  grouse,  the 
heath-hen,  and  the  sage  grouse  comprise  the  best 
group  of  grouse  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  They  all  lie 
well  to  the  dogs  and  are  excellent  food  birds.  The  former  abun- 
dance of  these  birds  is  almost  beyond  belief.  Tons  of  them  once 
were  shipped  to  the  Eastern  markets  at  a  single  consignment. 
I  have  shot  on  the  Western  prairies  when  it  was  an  easy  matter 
to  bag  a  wagon  load  of  grouse  in  a  half-day's  shooting  by  two 
guns.  The  birds  now  are  extinct  in  entire  states  and  never 
can  be  restored  excepting  by  private  industry,  since  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  preserve  some  of  the  wild  grasses,  roses, 
sunflowers,  and  other  covers  which  will  not  be  preserved  in 
closely  cultivated  regions  unless  it  pays  to  do  so. 

In  the  states  where  the  grouse  still  occur  most  of  the  farms 
are  posted  against  all  shooting  and  many  of  the  states  now 
prohibit  grouse  shooting  absolutely.  But  the  birds  must 
continue  to  vanish  in  places  where  their  natural  covers  and 
foods  are  destroyed,  because  they  become  an  easy  prey  to  their 

28 


over-abundant  natural  enemies  and  they  must  perish  in  the 
winter,  when  none  of  the  natural  foods  remain  in  sight  above 
the  snow.  No  birds  need  more  immediate  attention  from  the 
sportsmen;  no  group  of  birds  is  more  valuable  from  an  economic 
point  of  view  than  the  grouse  of  the  open  country.  In  many 
of  the  grouse  states  the  state  game  officers  are  introducing 
foreign  game  birds  in  large  numbers  and  they  seem  to  be  aware 
that  the  grouse  can  not  be  preserved  on  closely  cultivated  farms 
as  objects  of  public  pursuit.  Some  intelligent  state  game  officers, 
I  am  pleased  to  observe,  are  prepared  to  urge  breeders'  enact- 
ments making  it  worth  while  to  save  these  birds,  and  I  recently 
had  a  letter  from  a  Western  officer  in  which  he  said  he  would 
favor  the  needed  industry  and  would  be  glad  to  see  syndicates 
of  sportsmen  formed  to  save  the  grouse. 

As  the  matter  now  stands  the  shooting  practically  has  ended 
and  most  naturalists  predict  the  extermination  of  these  birds. 
The  country  is  so  big  (hundreds  of  times  as  big  as  the  grouse 
lands  of  the  old  world)  that  there  is  room  enough  for  all  American 
sportsmen  to  have  good  grouse  shooting  for  all  time  to  come, 
provided  we  undertake  the  practical  preservation  of  our  grouse 
before  it  is  too  late. 

The  birds  are  being  protected  in  some  places,  but  it  is  evident 
that  only  a  few  persons  can  be  expected  to  engage  in  the  needed 
industry  so  long  as  the  shooting  and  the  sale  of  the  game  is 
prohibited.  Grouse  multiply  rapidly  when  the  covers  and 
foods  are  preserved  and  their  enemies  are  controlled  and  they 
can  be  made  more  abundant  than  they  ever  were. 


e  Grouse  of  the  Open  Country 


THE  sharp-tailed  or  pin-tailed  grouse  is  very  similar  in  size 
and  weight  to  its  cousin  the  prairie  grouse.  It  is  lighter  in 
color  and  more  gray,  and  has  a  short  pointed  tail  which  suggested 
the  name.  I  have  had  many  good  days  shooting  these  birds  on 
the  Northwestern  plains  when  they  were  abundant.  They  lie 
well  to  the  dog  and  fly  a  mile  or  more  alternately  whirring  and 
sailing  on  extended  wings  so  that  it  is  desirable  to  shoot  them 
from  a  wagon  or  on  horseback. 

The  range  of  the  sharp-tailed  grouse  is  from  Canada  and 
Michigan  to  New  Mexico  and  westward  to  parts  of  California, 
and  to  Alaska.  It  is  said  to  be  still  fairly  abundant 

in  some  parts  of  Oregon  and  jfj^  Washington,  but  it 
has  been  reported  as  extinct  or  Jl  nearly  so  in  California 
and  in  other  parts  of  its  ^^HB  range.  Its  food  is  simi- 


lar to  that  of  the  prairie  grouse.  Many  grasshoppers  and 
other  insects  are  eaten,  the  young  being  highly  insectivorous 
like  all  the  other  grouse,  the  quails,  and  the  turkeys.  The 
vegetable  food  comprises  leaves,  buds  and  flowers;  weed 
seeds,  fruit,  and  grain.  Since  this  is  the  more  northern 
species,  it  naturally  relies  more  on  buds  than  the  prairie  grouse 
does,  and  in  winter  it  eats  birch  buds,  willow  buds,  and  others. 
I  have  seen  this  bird  alight  on  trees  more  often  than  the  prairie 
grouse  does,  but  it  lies  equally  well  to  the  dogs,  does  not  fly  to 
the  trees  when  flushed,  and  I  am  inclined  to  regard  it  as  the  best 
grouse  in  America  and  I  doubt  if  a  better  bird  can  be  found  in 
the  world.  Certainly  it  is  well  worth  preserving  and  I  believe 
it  will  not  be  long  before  it  is  restored  and  made  plentiful  and 
profitable  on  many  of  the  big  wheat  farms  of  the  Northwestern 
and  Pacific  coast  states.  The  sharp-tail  is  very  fond  of  wheat, 

30 


but  it  cannot  secure  the  grains  beneath  the  snow  during  the 
long  winters,  and  it  perishes  because  the  wild  roses  and  other 
winter  foods  have  been  destroyed.  A  handsome  border  to  a 
private  road,  fence  or  path,  containing  wild  roses  and  sun- 
flowers and  prairie  grasses,  could  be  made  to  yield  a  good  crop 
of  grouse,  many  of  which  might  be  shot  on  the  stubbles  in  the 
autumn  without  any  danger  of  extermination.  Some  stock 
birds  should  be  left,  of  course,  and  the  prairie  falcon,  the 
coyote,  the  snake  and  other  enemies  should  not  be  permitted 
to  devour  them. 


THE  sage  cock,  or  cock  of  the  plains,  is  the  second  largest 
grouse  in  the  world,  the  capercailzie  of  the  old  world  being 
somewhat  bigger.  Our  sage  cock  is  peculiar  in  its  habits  and 
it  is  found  in  the  regions  where  the  artemesia  or  wild  sage 
grows,  extensively.  I  have  shot  many  of  these  grouse  from  the 
saddle  when  riding  across  the  wide  plains  covered  as  far  as  the 
eye  can  reach  with  the  gray  green  plants  of  wild  sage. 

The  food  of  the  sage  grouse  consists  largely  of  the  leaves  of 
the  wild  sage  which  late  in  the  year  impart  a  bitter  flavor  to 
the  meat,  and  which  caused  a  Western  traveller  to  denounce 
it  as  a  "quinine  brute."  Early  in  the  year  the  young  birds 
live  largely  on  grasshoppers  and  other  insects,  and  I  have 
eaten  them  in  August  when  they  were  delicious.  The  flesh 
at  this  season  is  tender  and  juicy  and  compares  favorably  with 
that  of  the  other  grouse. 

Since  the  natural  foods  for  these  birds  still  are  plentiful 
on  the  vast  alkaline  plains,  it  would  appear  that  "too  much 
shooting"  must  be  ascribed  as  the  reason  for  their  threatened 
extinction.  The  well  known  rule  that  no  game  birds  can  stand 
both  the  destruction  due  to  natural  causes  and  shooting  also, 
is  proved  everywhere  and  it  explains,  undoubtedly,  our  loss  of 
the  cock  of  the  plains. 

These  big  grouse  are  well  worth  preserving,  the  lands  where 
they  dwell  are  practically  worthless  and  a  good  big  sage-cock 
ranch  or  preserve  would  cost  almost  nothing  and  there  is  room 

31 


enough  for  all.  A  few  mounted  game  keepers  who  understand 
the  control  of  the  enemies  of  the  red  grouse  of  the  moors,  could 
protect  the  cock  of  the  plains  on  many  square  miles  and  such 
industry  should  be  encouraged  if  we  wish  to  save  the  grouse 
and  to  perpetuate  sport. 


IN  pattern,  marking,  and  color,  the  heath-hen  is  identical  with 
the  prairie  grouse.  It  was  considered  by  the  earlier  orni- 
thologists to  be  an  Eastern  form  of  the  abundant  Western 
species.  It  was  plentiful,  formerly,  in  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, and  the  eastern  parts  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Virginia.  Large  numbers  of  heath-hens  were  shot 
on  Long  Island,  New  York,  and  this  was  one  of  the  first  birds 
to  be  protected  by  law  in  that  state.  It  is  significant  that  it 
became  extinct,  like  the  wild  turkey  in  Ohio,  at  a  time  when 
shooting  was  prohibited. 

The  only  surviving  heath-hens  inhabit  the  island  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Massachusetts,  and  it  is  greatly  to  the  credit  of  the 
capable  Massachusetts  Game  Commissioners  that  the  birds 
have  not  been  permitted  to  become  extinct.  Although  shooting 
was  prohibited,  the  birds  continued  to  vanish  because  for  a 
time  they  were  not  protected  from  their  over-abundant  natural 
enemies  and  from  cats  and  roving  dogs  which  destroyed  them 
every  season.  Forest  fires  also  destroyed  many  nests,  and  in 

32 


1890  the  ornithologist  William  Brewster  ascertained  that  there 
were  only  about  200  heath-hens  living  on  the  island.  They 
have  since  been  given  some  special  attention  by  a  game  warden 
and  the  losses  due  to  game  enemies,  fires  and  other  causes  have 
been  checked  somewhat.  The  birds  are  said  to  respond  slowly 
to  this  protection,  but  their  numbers  are  reported  to  be  in- 
creasing. A  few  skilled  game  keepers  devoting  their  entire 
attention  to  the  protection  of  these  birds  soon  would  reduce 
the  hawks  and  the  cats  and  other  enemies  and  the  increase  in 
numbers  undoubtedly  would  be  rapid  because  the  destruction 
of  each  enemy  would  mean  the  saving  of  many  birds. 

The  bird  is  especially  desirable  since  it  thrives  on  the  scrub 
oak  lands  of  the  Eastern  states  and  it  might  be  restored  in 
places  where  no  game  of  any  kind  now  occurs.  At  present 
it  is  of  no  value  to  sport  and,  of  course,  it  no  longer  is  eaten. 
Since  it  was  formerly  sufficiently  abundant  to  sell  for  only  a 
few  cents  in  the  markets,  it  is  evident  that  it  can  be  made 
profitably  plentiful  now  that  all  meats  are  dear. 

The  foods  of  the  heath-hen,  as  given  by  the  earlier  ornitholo- 
gists, are  the  bayberry,  which  abounds  in  many  parts  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  the  partridge  berry,  cranberry,  rose  hips,  acorns,  and 
pine  and  alder  buds.  There  are  many  places  where  these  foods 
are  sufficiently  plentiful  to  support  a  good  head  of  heath-hens 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  they  may  be  restored  to  their  former  range. 


Inspecting  Heath  Irten  County 
33 


QfcpUSE: 


I  HE  prairie  grouse  or  "chicken,"  including 
the  somewhat  smaller  form  which  is  found 
in  Texas  and  Louisiana,  still  occurs,  in  sadly 
diminished  numbers,  from  Manitoba,  Mich- 
igan, and  Indiana  to  Texas  and  westward  to  the  great  plains 
where,  as  in  the  Dakotas,  it  has  extended  its  range  with 
the  advancement  of  civilization.  When  I  first  went  to  North 
Dakota,  to  shoot  the  sharp-tailed  grouse,  the  common  prairie 
chicken  was  scarce,  but  later  it  increased  in  numbers  in  some 
parts  of  the  state  and  it  could  be  kept  plentiful  on  most  of  the 
open  ground  as  far  west  as  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  prairie  grouse  weighs  about  two  pounds  and  its  flesh 
is  tender,  juicy,  and  delicious.  Some  prefer  it  to  the  flesh  of  the 
ruffed  grouse  and  I  am  inclined  to  side  with  them.  It  certainly 
is  a  magnificent  wild  food  bird  and  well  worth  preserving. 
The  way  to  save  it  from  extinction,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem, 
is  to  keep  the  markets  full  of  grouse  during  a  long  open  season. 
The  money  received  from  the  sale  of  some  grouse  will  enable 
sportsmen  of  small  means  to  meet  the  expenses  of  looking  after 
the  birds  and  dealing  fairly  with  the  farmers  who  have  posted 
their  lands. 

34 


Grouse  cannot  stand  the  ordinary  destruction  by  natural 
enemies  and  the  destruction  by  guns  at  the  same  time.  Since 
the  birds  continued  to  vanish  after  shooting  had  been  pro- 
hibited, it  is  evident  that  there  are  other  causes  for  this  besides 
shooting.  The  destruction  of  their  foods  and  covers  are 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  loss.  Cats,  rats,  and  roving  dogs 
in  many  places  prevent  any  increase  in  their  numbers.  Prairie 
fires  and  floods  often  exterminate  them  on  large  areas.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  sharp-tailed  grouse,  and  the  "prairie 
chicken"  of  the  Northwestern  states  which  once  was  plentiful 
as  far  west  as  California;  this  bird  has  suffered,  also,  from  the 
loss  of  its  food  and  covers.  The  prairie  grasses,  the  wild  rose, 
the  wild  sunflower  and  many  other  food  plants  often  are  abso- 
lutely destroyed  on  the  big  wheat  farms  where  these  birds 
formerly  were  abundant  and  where  they  are  now  extinct  or 


nearly  so.  In  addition  to  food  the  briars  afford  safe  protection 
when  a  hawk  or  other  enemy  approached.  I  have  seen  a 
line  of  telegraph  poles  across  a  big  wheat  stubble  when  there 
appeared  to  be  a  hawk  on  nearly  every  pole,  and  there  was 
absolutely  no  place  where  a  grouse  could  hide  on  the  vast 
prairie  which  extended  to  the  horizon.  Of  course  there  were 
no  grouse.  I  found  the  sharp-tailed  chicken  very  abundant 
in  the  valley  of  the  Rosebud,  Montana,  in  the  days  when  it 
was  hardly  safe  to  shoot  there  on  account  of  the  Indians,  but 
the  wild  roses  were  also  very  abundant  and  afforded  protection 
to  the  birds  and  food  in  the  winter,  when  they  lived  largely 
upon  the  rose  hips  which  could  be  seen  above  the  snow.  If  we 
give  the  natural  enemies  a  good  chance  to  eat  them,  by  destroy- 
ing the  prairie  chicken's  nesting  sites  and  covers,  and  if  we 
destroy  absolutely  their  winter  foods  on  vast  areas,  we  must  not 
expect  the  birds  to  return  to  places  where  they  have  become 
extinct  because  we  have  enacted  laws  prohibiting  shooting. 

35 


The  food  habits  of  the  prairie  grouse  are  well  known.  They 
eat  many  insects,  especially  grasshoppers,  from  May  to  October, 
and  are  valuable  aids  to  the  farmer  for  this  reason.  In  the  fall 
and  winter  the  food  of  the  prairie  grouse  is  mainly  vegetable; 
fruit,  leaves,  flowers,  shoots,  seeds  and  grain.  Dr.  Judd  says: 
"Like  the  bob-white  and  the  ruffed  grouse,  the  prairie  grouse 
is  fond  of  rose  hips  and  the  abundant  roses  of  the  prairie  yield 
11.01  per  cent  of  its  food."  In  Kansas  and  many  other  states 
the  wild  sunflowers,  goldenrod  and  other  natural  foods  were 
tremendously  abundant,  but  throughout  most  of  the  range  of 
the  grouse  these  foods  have  been  destroyed  absolutely.  It 
would  pay  to  restore  some  prairie  grass,  wild  roses,  sunflowers 
and  other  covers  and  foods  which  are  essential  to  the  birds' 
existence.  No  farmer  or  sportsman  can  be  expected  to  give  the 
land,  time,  labor,  and  money  needed  to  save  the  grouse  simply 
as  a  bait  for  trespassers.  This  grouse  is  fond  of  the  stubble 
as  a  feeding  ground  and  it  can  be  made  profitably  abundant 
on  many  farms,  but  it  must  have  winter  foods  and  covers,  and  it 
must  be  protected  from  its  enemies  if  any  shooting  is  to  be  done; 
otherwise  it  will  become  extinct. 

Dr.  Judd  says  this  grouse  yields  readily  to  domestication 
and  says  preserves  for  domesticated  birds  should  be  established. 
He  relies  on  Audubon's  statement,  that  "the  pinnated  grouse 
is  easily  tamed."  The  recent  experiments  which  have  come  to 
my  notice  have  been  failures;  and  since  the  birds  now  are 
very  valuable,  it  seems  peculiar  that  there  are  no  published 
reports  of  successful  hand-rearing.  It  is  certain,  however, 
that  the  birds  can  be  made  very  abundant  as  the  red  grouse 
have  been  on  the  moors  of  Scotland.  Practically  all  of  the 
grouse  bred  in  Scotland  are  wild  birds.  Few  experiments  in 
hand-rearing  have  been  made  and  they  are  not  necessary  or 


*  Few  brier  Patches  Mere  Would   Dake  Good    Grouse-  Shoot:! 

36 


desirable.  As  I  have  observed,  wild  bred  birds  are  the  cheapest 
and  most  easily  and  safely  reared;  evidently  they  are  better  for 
sport  and  better  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  than  hand- 
reared  birds. 

Probably  ninety  per  cent  of  the  farms  where  these  birds 
occur  are  now  posted  against  shooting  and  the  number  of 
farms  so  protected  is  increasing,  There  are  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  square  miles  where  the  grouse  shooting  can  be 
made  good  as  it  is  in  Scotland,  provided  the  farmers  be  dealt 
with  fairly.  A  grouse  preserve,  properly  conducted,  will  prove 
to  be  a  money-maker.  Since  late  in  the  year  this  grouse  has 
a  well  sustained  flight  and  often  will  go  a  mile  or  more  before 
alighting,  the  farm  where  any  practical  preserving  is  under- 
taken should  be  a  big  one,  or  the  shooting  on  a  number  of 
farms  should  be  under  one  management.  Certainly  no  one  will 
be  damaged  if  such  industry  be  encouraged  on  the  farms  which 
are  now  posted  against  all  gunners  or  on  the  farms  where  the 
grouse  have  become  extinct. 


shooting  in  Scotland  is  the  grand  opera  of  the 
vJT  world's  shooting.  Many  thousands  of  sportsmen  go  to  the 
moors  every  August  to  shoot  the  red  grouse.  The  birds  are  bred 
wild  and  are  shot  for  the  most  part  by  driving,  when  the  birds  are 
flushed  and  sent  over  the  guns.  So  popular  are  the  moors  that 
a  vast  throng  is  attracted.  The  president  of  an  English  rail- 
road is  reported  to  have  said:  "The  grouse  pay  our  dividends/' 
Many  sportsmen  from  the  Continent  of  Europe  and  many 
Americans  go  to  Scotland  on  the  12th  of  August,  when  the 
season  opens,  and  one  season  an  English  magazine  stated  that 
an  American  sportsman  had  the  best  dogs  on  the  moors.  Com- 
plaints have  been  heard  about  our  countrymen  because  they  are 
said  to  have  raised  the  prices  of  the  shooting  rentals  and  to 
have  taken  some  of  the  more  desirable  places  from  Englishmen 
who  formerly  rented  them  from  year  to  year.  Tons  of  grouse 
are  shipped  to  the  English  markets;  many  thousands  of  these 

37 


birds  are  sold  and  eaten  in  America;  but  the  shooting  remains 
good.     There  is  no  fear  of  extermination. 

The  ornithologist,  Elliot,  in  concluding  his  chapter  on  the 
American  prairie  grouse,  which,  as  a  sporting  and  food  bird, 
is  very  similar  to  the  red  grouse  of  Scotland,  says:  "But  the 
inevitable  day  will  surely  come  that  will  bring  the  same  fate 
to  all  our  wild  creatures,  and  the  prairie  chicken,  like  other 
natives  of  the  wilderness,  will  remain  only  as  a  memory." 
We  should  take  notice  that  "the  inevitable  day"  is  almost  here. 

The  size  of  the  impending  catastrophe  becomes  evident 
when  we  observe  that  the  area  of  Scotland  which  supplies  the 
English  markets  with  cheap  grouse  is  only  30,405  square  miles. 
Since  there  are  some  grouse  in  Northern  England  and  parts  of 
Ireland,  it  would  be  fair  to  say  that  the  food  producing  area  is 
about  50,000  square  miles.  The  combined  area  of  the  states 
where  our  grouse  of  the  open  country  still  occur  (in  sadly 
diminished  numbers)  may  be  roughly  estimated  as  2,350,000 
square  miles.  We  have  besides  about  230,000  square  miles 
in  the  states  where  the  prairie  grouse  have  become  extinct,  and 
in  one  of  these  states,  Audubon  says,  they  were  so  abundant 
as  to  be  regarded  as  pests.  They  can  be  restored  and  made 
plentiful  for  sport  and  for  a  highly  desirable  food  supply,  pro- 
vided the  matter  be  attended  to  now. 

Grouse  shooting  has  been  prohibited  in  many  states,  and  in  no 
state  can  these  birds  be  sold  as  food.  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that  it  does  not  pay  to  look  after  them  properly;  to  restore  the 
prairie  grass  for  nesting  sites  and  cover,  and  to  preserve  the 
wild  roses,  sunflowers  and  other  plants,  which  furnish  protection 
and  food  and  which  have  been  destroyed  throughout  the  range 
of  the  grouse  in  the  interest  of  agriculture.  If  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  area  suitable  for  grouse  breeding  be  utilized  for 
the  profitable  production  of  these  birds  they  might  be  made 
more  abundant  than  they  ever  were  and  all  of  the  sportsmen 
in  America  and  many  from  abroad  might  have  shooting  suf- 
ficiently good  to  feed  the  people  with  cheap  grouse.  All  that 
is  needed  is  a  little  encouragement  for  those  who  are  willing  to 
undertake  the  needed  industry. 

38 


THE  cost  of  breeding  game  in  a  wild  state  is  small  when 
compared  with  the  cost  of  hand-rearing  pheasants  and  other 
game  bred  in  captivity.  The  wild  nesting  birds  find  most  of 
their  food  in  the  fields.  The  grouse,  like  the  quail,  glean  the 
stubbles  after  the  harvest  and  they  can  subsist  in  large  num- 
bers, even  in  severe  winters,  on  the  hips  of  the  wild  rose 
and  the  seeds  of  sunflowers,  sumacs  and  other  plants.  The 
farmers,  whose  farms  are  posted,  often  are  quite  willing  to 
rent  the  shooting  for  a  few  cents  per  acre,  and  if  skilled 
game  keepers  be  employed  to  control  the  natural  enemies 
of  the  birds  and  to  see  that  they  have  proper  nesting  sites 
and  foods  the  grouse  can  quickly  be  made  profitable,  and 
syndicates  of  sportsmen  formed  to  share  the  expense  of 
looking  after  them  can  have  splendid  shooting  at  very  small 
cost.  As  I  have  observed,  the  sportsmen  who  are  looking 
after  the  quail  often  pay  only  $10  to  $15  each  per  year,  and 
if  they  could  sell  some  of  their  quail  these  amounts  would 
be  reduced. 

Since  it  is  very  evident  that  as  population  increases  the 
grouse  shooting  must  be  prohibited  everywhere  unless  the 
birds  be  properly  looked  after,  I  sincerely  hope  it  will  not  be 
long  before  grouse  shooting  is  restored  on  many  of  the  posted 
farms,  from  Louisiana  and  Texas  to  Michigan  and  North 
Dakota,  by  syndicates  of  sportsmen  who  are  willing  to  deal 
fairly  with  the  owners  of  the  grouse  lands  and  to  persuade 
them  to  assist  in  making  these  splendid  birds  profitably  plenti- 
ful as  the  red  grouse  are  in  Scotland.  We  should  always  re- 
member that  most  of  the  farms  are  now  posted  against  all 
shooting  and  that  the  farmers  are  supplementing  this  prohibi- 
tion with  laws  prohibiting  the  taking  of  grouse  at  any  time. 
There  are  good  reasons  why  these  conditions  must  remain  and 
grow  worse  unless  the  grouse  be  preserved,  in  the  interest  of 
sport,  on  at  least  a  part  of  the  vast  area  they  should  inhabit. 


HE  QROUSE  OF  THE 


[C  grouse  which  inhabit  the  American  woods 
and  mountains  are  the  well-known  ruffed  grouse 
the  Canada  grouse  or  spruce  partridge,  the  dusky 
or  blue  grouse  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  and  the  ptarmi- 
gans which  live  above  the  timber  line  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
within  the  United  States  and  thence  north  to  the  arctic  tundras 
of  Alaska.  They  are  all  excellent  sporting  birds,  highly  prized  as 
food  and  well  worth  preserving. 

The  ptarmigans  are  circumpolar  and  always  are  plentiful  in 
foreign  markets. 

They  no  longer  occur  on  vast  mountain  areas  where  formerly 
they  were  plentiful  in  the  United  States,  and  throughout  their 
range  they  have  diminished  in  numbers  where  shooting  is 
permitted,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  no  species  can  with- 
stand this  additional  check  to  its  ^^  increase  unless  it  be  prop- 
erly looked  after  and  protected  K  ^  from  its  natural  enemies. 


OOMEWHAT  smaller  and  darker  than  the  ruffed  grouse,  the 
O  Canada  or  spruce  grouse  is  by  no  means  so  good  as  our 
woodland  drummer,  either  for  sport  or  on  the  table.  The  two 
forms  or  species,  which  are  much  alike,  inhabit  the  northern 
coniferous  forests  from  northern  Maine  to  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington. The  Western  form,  termed  Franklin's  grouse,  is  much 
like  its  relative  which  is  found  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  spruce  grouse  are  more  plentiful  in  Canada  and  Alaska 
than  they  are  in  the  United  States.  They  are  familiar  to  big 
game  hunters  and  often  they  are  shot  for  food,  but  they  are  too 
tame  in  most  woodlands  to  afford  good  sport,  and  they  appear 
so  stupid  that  they  are  called  "fool  hens"  by  residents  of  the 
Western  mountains.  Many  have  been  taken  by  a  noose 
fastened  to  the  end  of  a  fishing  rod  or  stick,  the  noose  being 
dropped  over  the  head  of  the  unsuspicious  birds  which  are  then 
easily  jerked  off  the  branch  of  the  tree.  Elliot  says  he  has  seen 
birds  push  the  noose  aside  with  their  bills  when  it  touched  their 
heads  without  slipping  over. 

The  spruce  grouse  frequents  tamarack  swamps  and  woods 
where  the  spruce  and  fir  grow  thickest;  the  leaves,  buds  and 
tender  shoots  of  the  coniferous  trees  make  up  a  good  part  of 
their  food.  Like  the  ruffed  grouse  and  the  dusky  grouse,  these 
birds  eat  many  berries  and  other  fruits  in  the  summer;  bear- 
berries,  blueberries,  juniper  berries,  bunch  berries  and  the  wax 
currant  berry  are  the  principal  berries  eaten.  At  this  season 
the  flesh  is  palatable,  but  later  in  the  year  and  in  winter  when 
the  food  consists  largely  of  the  spruce  shoots,  which  suggested 
the  name  of  the  bird,  the  flesh  becomes  bitter  and  undesirable. 


41 


The  nest  contains  usually  from  ten  to  twelve  eggs,  sometimes 
as  many  as  sixteen.  It  is  placed  on  the  ground,  and  only  one 
brood  is  hatched  in  a  season. 


LUE  or  dusky  grouse  are  from  four  to  six  inches  longer  than 
the  average  ruffed  grouse.  The  blue  grouse  weighs  from 

to  3^  pounds;  the  weight  of  the  ruffed  grouse  is  2  pounds 
and  often  less.  The  range  of  the  three  ornithological  forms 
of  the  blue  grouse  (which  from  the  sportsman's  viewpoint  may 

-—*          ,  -  -  --      ,  __„    |^_— — 


*i 


be  considered  as  one  species,  since  the  appearance  and  habits 
are  much  alike)  is  from  Alaska  to  New  Mexico  and  Arizona. 
The  Western  form  inhabits  the  coast  range  from  California 
and  it  occurs  eastward  to  Nevada,  western  Idaho  and  thence 
to  northern  Alaska.  I  have  observed  these  birds  when  they 
were  abundant  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  so  tame  as  to  share 
the  name  "fool  hen."  Like  the  other  grouse,  it  is  disappearing 
so  rapidly  everywhere  and  has  become  extinct  in  so  many 
places  that  laws  prohibiting  grouse  shooting  at  all  times  have 
been  deemed  necessary.  In  many  places  the  birds  remaining 
are  wild  enough  for  sport,  and  they  lie  well  to  the  dog. 

The  blue  grouse  are  mountain  as  well  as  forest  loving  birds, 
and  they  often  wander  from  the  spruce  and  fir  forests  above 
the  timber  line  in  their  search  for  berries  and  other  food.  In 

42 


winter  they  descend  to  the  valleys.  They  are  not  migratory, 
such  movements  being  made  solely  in  search  of  food  and  to 
escape  the  severe  weather  of  the  higher  altitudes. 

The  food  of  the  blue  grouse  consists  of  insects,  which  form  a 
large  part  of  the  food  of  the  young  birds,  grasshoppers  being 
the  principal  insect  eaten,  and  fruit,  seeds  and  leaves.  Like 
the  spruce  grouse,  the  blue  grouse  is  a  browser  and  is  one  of 
our  chief  foliage-eating  birds.  Dr.  Judd  says  it  spends  most  of 
its  time  in  pine  forests  feeding  on  needles,  buds  and  flowers. 
In  the  summer  many  berries  are  eaten,  among  them  the 
abundant  wild  gooseberries,  currants,  strawberries,  huckle- 
berries, service  and  bear-berries.  The  flesh  is  white,  tender, 
juicy  and  delicious.  Later  in  the  season  it  is  affected  by  the 
change  in  diet  and  it  often  has  then  a  bitter  and  resinous  taste 
which  renders  it  highly  undesirable.  Like  the  other  grouse, 
the  dusky  grouse  nests  on  the  ground  in  May  or  June.  Usually 
there  are  about  eight  eggs,  sometimes  more.  The  birds  should 
be  shot  in  September  and  October,  when  they  are  desirable  for 
the  table,  and  if  properly  looked  after  on  some  good-sized  pre- 
serves the  markets  can  be  kept  full  of  them  without  decreasing 
their  numbers  from  year  to  year. 

The  enemies  of  these  grouse  are  eagles  as  well  as  hawks,  and 
mountain  lions,  lynx  and  other  species  of  ground  vermin, 
including  snakes. 


k  UR  woodland  drummer,  the  ruffed 
grouse,  has  been  properly  named  the 
king  of  game  birds.  It  is  the  best 
woodland  grouse  in  the  world,  and  it 
should  always  be  as  plentiful  in  our  markets  as  the  European 
black-cock  is,  not  only  in  foreign  markets,  but  also  in  New  York. 
The  practical  and  profitable  preservation  of  the  ruffed  grouse  on 
comparatively  small  areas  would  result  in  their  remaining  plenti- 
ful throughout  the  surrounding  country.  The  shooting  can  be 
made  good  on  thousands  of  square  miles  where  the  birds  now  are 
few  in  number  or  entirely  extinct.  Where  they  are  properly 
looked  after  they  will  thrive  even  in  small  woodlands  and  bushy 
tracts,  provided  they  contain  the  foods  they  require  and  their 
enemies  be  controlled. 

Many  experiments  have  been  made  in  the  artificial  propaga- 
tion of  this  species,  with  some  success.  Professor  Hodge  hand- 
reared  a  number  of  birds  in  his  yard  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts, 
and  the  Massachusetts  game  department  and  others  have  reared 
a  few  birds.  I  do  not,  however,  regard  the  artificial  rearing  of 
grouse  as  necessary  or  even  desirable.  The  losses  often  are  large, 
and,  for  sporting  purposes  as  well  as  for  food,  birds  reared  in  a 

44 


wild  state  in  protected  woods  are  the  best  and  by  far  the  cheap- 
est; they  can  be  made  as  abundant  as  it  is  desirable  to  have  them. 

Many  believe  that  the  ruffed  grouse  wanders  over  a  wide 
territory  and  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  breed  them  in  small 
woods.  They  undoubtedly  wander  long  distances  in  search 
of  food.  Young  birds  hatched  in  a  locality  where  insects  are 
plentiful  and  where  there  is  an  abundance  of  mast  for  the  old 
birds  will  be  led  away  later 
to  places  where  berries  are 
plentiful,  for  this  grouse  is  a 
great  berry-eater. 

Since  game  preserving 
has  become  popular  in 
America  and  the  necessity 
for  it  has  become  well- 
known,  more  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  food 
habits  and  other  require- 
ments of  all  our  game  birds 
than  was  formerly  given  to 
this  subject.  Proper  covers 
also  are  important.  This 
bird's  existence  depends  on 
them,  since  the  entire  destruction  of  forests  will  result  in  the 
extermination  of  woodland  species.  But  the  ruffed  grouse 
can  be  kept  plentiful  even  in  closely  settled  farming  regions, 
provided  small  woods  or  thickets  be  left  or  are  planted,  and 
foods  suitable  for  different  seasons  of  the  year  are  kept  plentiful. 
Young  birds  are  largely  insectivorous.  More  than  ninety-five 
per  cent  of  the  diet  of  the  young  grouse  examined  by  Dr.  Judd 
was  insects.  Newly  hatched  chicks  eat  the  most;  as  they  grow 
older  they  eat  fruit,  and  later  they  feed  on  mast,  grain  and  buds. 
The  study  of  the  food  habits  of  the  young  has  not  been  as 
extensive  as  it  should  be,  but  indicates  that  the  chicks  eat 
grasshoppers,  cutworms,  certain  beetles,  ants,  parasitic 
wasps,  buffalo  tree  hoppers,  spiders,  grubs  and  caterpillars. 
Undoubtedly  many  small  insects  and  their  eggs  which  are 

45 


found  in  the  woods  and  adjacent  fields  will  be  added  to  the  list. 
The  beetles  seem  to  be  preferred,  but  Dr.  Judd  says  the  grouse 
he  shot  in  September,  in  New  Hampshire,  were  feeding  largely 
on  red-legged  grasshoppers,  which  were  abundant  in  the  pas- 
tures where  the  birds  foraged.  The  vegetable  food  consists 
largely  of  seeds,  fruit,  buds  and  leaves.  Mast,  including  hazle- 
nuts,  beechnuts,  chestnuts  and  acorns  are  staple  foods,  the 
acorns  being  the  largest  supply  in  many  regions.  Acorns  of  the 
scrub  oak,  scrub  chestnut  oak,  white  oak  and  red  oak  are 
swallowed  whole,  and  I  have  often  found  the  grouse  abundant  in 
the  scrub  oaks  on  Long  Island,  New  York,  and  in  other  regions 
where  there  were  few  or  no  large  trees.  The  ruffed  grouse  un- 
doubtedly eats  grain  and  often  procures  it  along  woodland  roads, 
where  it  resorts  to  dust  and  to  feed  on  the  abundant  berries. 

More  than  one-fourth  of  the  yearly  food  of  this  bird  is  fruit. 
Its  diet  includes  the  hips  of  the  wild  rose,  grapes,  partridge  ber- 
ries, thorn  apples,  wild  crab  apples,  cultivated  apples,  winter- 
green  berries,  bayberries,  blueberries,  huckleberries,  black- 
berries, raspberries,  strawberries,  cranberries,  sarsaparilla  ber- 
ries, and  others;  wild  and  cultivated  cherries,  plums,  haws, 
sumacs,  including  the  poison  sumac  and  poison  ivy,  which  are 
taken  with  immunity. 

Sportsmen  are  well  aware  of  the  fondness  of  this  grouse  for 
wild  grapes  and  apples,  and  they  often  find  them  in  places 
where  grapes  are  plentiful  and  in  old  fruit  orchards,  especially 
on  abandoned  farms.  The  wild  rose  hips  and  sumacs  are 
excellent  winter  foods  because  they  can  be  obtained  above  the 
snow.  Wild  and  cultivated  sunflowers  furnish  excellent  food, 
and  many  other  fruits  and  seeds  of  varying  importance  are  on 
the  ruffed  grouse's  bill  of  fare. 

Birch,  poplar,  willow,  laurel  and  other  buds  are  eaten  by  the 
ruffed  grouse,  and  the  budding,  practiced  for  the  most  part 
during  the  winter,  enables  it  to  survive  the  severe  winters  of 
the  Northern  states  and  Canada,  when  other  foods  are  buried 
in  deep  snows.  The  several  species  of  birch  buds  are  a  staple. 

There  is  no  better  bird  on  the  table  than  a  ruffed  grouse 
shot  in  September  or  October,  excepting,  possibly,  the  prairie 

46 


grouse  and  sharp-tailed  grouse.  Its  diet  at  this  season  is  largely 
made  up  of  fruits  and  beechnuts,  chestnuts,  acorns,  etc.,  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  the  flesh  of  the  well-bred  grouse  is  pro- 
nounced delicious  by  all  epicures. 

The  ruffed  grouse  has  numerous  enemies  which  must  be 
controlled  if  any  shooting  is  to  be  done*  Certain  hawks,  owls 
and  crows  are  the  chief  feathered  enemies;  the  goshawk  is  often 
called  the  partridge  hawk  on  account  of  its  fondness  for  ruffed 
grouse.  The  great  horned  owl  and  the  barred  owl  take  many 
grouse  which  escape  the  fox  at  night  roosting  in  the  trees. 
Foxes,  weasels,  minks,  skunks  and  other  furry  enemies  are 
fond  of  grouse.  Snakes  destroy  both  birds  and  eggs.  The 
combined  toll  taken  in  a  year  by  these  enemies  is  large,  and 
when  the  enemies  are  controlled  it  is  evident  the  grouse  supply 
must  be  big  enough  to  stand  a  lot  of  shooting.  Roving  dogs 
and  cats,  both  wild  and  domestic,  do  much  damage  in  the  grouse 
woods  and  should  be  exterminated.  Forest  fires  at  the  nesting 
season  are  especially  destructive,  but  these  also  will  be  con- 
trolled when  it  pays  to  preserve  the  birds  properly. 

Ruffed  grouse  prefer  deciduous  trees  to  evergreens.  A 
forest  of  mast  and  fruit-bearing  trees,  with  some  evergreens,  is 
far  better  for  grouse  than  an  evergreen  forest  with  few  deciduous 
trees.  The  grouse  nests  on  the  ground  usually  against  a  fallen 
log,  stump,  tree  or  other  obstruction  which  may  protect  it 
from  a  rear  attack  and  will  often  cause  its  enemy  to  pass  to 
either  side  without  discovering  the  nest.  This  usually  con- 
tains from  8  to  12  eggs,  and  sometimes  more. 


,  T  is  only  a  few  years  since  the  breeding  of 
wild  ducks  for  sport  and  for  profit  was  under- 
taken in  England.  Everyone  thought  that  to 
attempt  wild  duck  breeding  simply  would 
result  in  providing  sport  for  others  than  those 
who  reared  the  ducks,  because  they  are  migratory,  Some  experi- 
ments, however,  made  with  mallards,  by  game  keepers*  were 
very  successful  and  it  was  ascertained  that  if  the  ducks  are 
properly  fed,  and  if  they  are  not  shot  on  or  about  the  breeding 
ponds,  they  will  remain  to  furnish  good  shooting  and  that  they 
will  attract  many  migrating  birds  to  the  feeding  grounds  and 
waters.  It  was  not  long  before  nearly  every  country  place  in 
England  had  wild  ducks,  and  many  shooting  clubs,  or  syndicates, 
as  they  say  in  England,  were  formed  by  sportsmen  to  share  the 
expenses  of  duck  breeding . 

The  wild  ducks  are  more  easily  reared  than  pheasants.  The 
breeding  ducks  are  kept  about  a  small  pond  in  a  yard  or  field 
wired  against  vermin  with  a  fence  of  chicken  wire.  The  ducks 
lay  their  eggs  in  little  brush  covers  which  are  provided  for  them. 
If  the  eggs  are  gathered  daily  they  persist  in  laying,  and  on  an 
average  about  thirty  eggs  can  be  obtained  from  each  duck. 

When  the  waters  are  small  it  is  best  to  have  one  drake  for 
every  two  or  three  ducks,  but  on  large  waters  it  is  better  to 
increase  the  number  of  drakes.  The  young  ducks  when  one 
day  old  are  taken  to  a  grassy  rearing  field  where  the  hen  is 
confined  in  a  coop,  as  in  pheasant  rearing,  and  the  young  ducks 
are  permitted  to  chase  insects  in  the  grass.  Many  breeders 
advise  not  letting  the  young  go  to  the  water  until  they  are 
eight  or  nine  weeks  old,  and  many  ducks  are  reared  by  this 
method.  It  is  important  that  the  young  birds  should  have 
plenty  of  water  to  drink,  which  is  furnished  in  little  pans  placed 
in  front  of  the  coops. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  ducklings  have  plenty  of 
shade,  since  they  are  affected  by  a  complaint  called  "strad- 

48 


Tubers  of  the 
cteftd  duck  potato. 


Rootstock  of#?e 
ddndna  water ///y. 


W/LD-OROWING  DUCK  FOOD 


49 


dies"  when  permitted  to  run  in  fields  where  no  shade  is  provided. 
The  complaint  is  easily  detected:  the  young  ducks  appear  to  be 
dizzy  and  soon  fall  and  expire.  It  is  said  to  be  similar  to  sun- 
stroke. I  have  seen  hundreds  of  ducks  die  in  this  manner  on 
a  hot,  sandy  field,  even  when  shade  was  provided,  and  last 
year  at  The  Game  Breeders'  Association  preserve  we  took  all 
of  the  ducks,  when  a  day  or  two  old,  to  the  side  of  a  shallow 
pond  and  placed  the  hens  in  their  coops  on  the  banks  letting  the 
little  ducks  swim  in  the  shallow  water.  The  result  was  excel- 
lent. We  had  no  trouble  whatever  from  "sunstroke"  nor,  in 


fMlclCefery. 

Pond  Weed 


fact,  from  any  cause.  The  pond  where  the  ducks  were  liberated 
was  wired  with  chicken  wire  a  few  feet  from  the  shore  to  keep 
out  turtles,  big  fish  and  frogs,  all  of  which  kill  and  eat  young 
ducks,  and  the  coops  also  were  protected  by  a  wire  fence  to 
keep  out  foxes,  skunks  and  other  ground  enemies.  Traps  were 
placed  on  tall  poles  and  in  trees,  and  many  hawks  and  great 
horned  owls  which  took  some  ducks  were  trapped  and  pre- 
vented from  doing  much  damage. 

The  water  was  warm  and  shallow  and  the  weather  remained 
positively   hot.      Abundant   shade   was   provided   about   the 

50 


coops.  The  ducklings  when  in  charge  of  hens  are  inclined  to 
stay  in  the  water  too  long  and  they  often  suffer  from  cramps, 
and  large  numbers  die  when  the  water  and  the  weather  are 
cold.  It  is  for  this  reason  many  duck  breeders  do  not  permit 
the  young  birds  to  go  near  the  water  until  they  are  old  enough 
to  be  safely  turned  out  on  the  ponds.  The  duck  mother  will 
lead  her  young  brood  out  on  the  bank  after  a  short  swim  and 
will  warm  them  by  collecting  them  under  her  wings  and  body 
on  a  sunny  bank.  I  have 
often  seen  them  do  this,  but 
the  hen,  of  course,  does  not 
go  into  the  water,  and  she 
cannot  lead  the  young  birds 
out  at  the  proper  time.  My 
experiments  lead  me  to  be- 
lieve that  in  hot  weather, 
especially  when  the  ducks 
are  hatched  late,  it  is  safer 
to  take  them  to  a  warm 
shallow  water  than  it  is  to 
attempt  to  rear  them  in  a 
very  hot  field.  At  the  first  drop  in  the  thermometer  the  birds 
should  be  removed  from  the  water  and  a  wire  should  be  run 
between  it  and  the  coops  to  prevent  their  going  to  it  and  catch- 
ing the  cramps.  Cold  rains  with  hail  are  bad  for  young  ducks 
and  they  should  be  shut  up  during  storms.  If  these  matters 
are  properly  attended  to  the  rearing  of  ducks  will  be  found 
quite  easy,  since  they  are  almost  free  from  diseases  and  grow 
rapidly.  After  they  are  well  feathered  there  should  be  no 
appreciable  losses,  provided  the  natural  enemies  be  well  con- 
trolled and  provided  the  natural  foods  they  secure  about  the 
pond  be  supplemented  daily  with  a  meal  or  two  of  cracked 
corn,  and  later  whole  corn. 


Canvas-becK 
Scaup  Duck. 
Wood  Duck. 


51 


The  young  ducks  are  fed  for  the  first  few  weeks  with  a 
special  wild  duck  meal,  which  is  supplied  by  the  dealers  in  game 
foods.  When  they  procure  many  water-insects,  bugs,  worms, 
small  frogs  and  fish,  they  will  not  require  to  be  fed  more  than 
two  or  three  times  a  day,  and  it  always  is  desirable  not  to  feed 
either  young  ducks  or  pheasants  too  much.  See  that  they  are 
eating  all  that  is  given  to  them,  and  that  no  food  remains  after 
a  meal  to  become  stale  and  unwholesome.  Modern  breeders 
keep  their  birds  a  little  hungry  and  they  get  more  exercise  on 
that  account  in  their  search  for  natural  foods. 

The  ducks  which  lend  themselves  most  readily  to  hand- 
rearing  are  the  mallards,  from  which  are  descended  our  common 
green-headed  ducks  of  the  barn  yard,  and  the  black  ducks, 
often  popularly  termed  black  mallards.  These  birds  cross 
readily  and  there  are  many  ducks  sold  as  black  ducks  which 
have  a  visible  admixture  of  mallard,  but  which  is  so  slight 
sometimes  as  to  make  it  difficult  for  experts  to  be  sure  that  the 
birds  are  not  thoroughbred.  Since  pheasants  have  interbred 
and  the  hybrids  are  desirable  from  the  sporting  viewpoint, 
there  should  not  be  much  objection  to  black  ducks  even  with 
a  visible  admixture  of  mallard,  provided  the  cross  be  from  a 
wild  and  not  a  barn-yard  strain.  The  strong  flight  which 
sport  demands  will  not  be  produced  often  by  barn-yard  ducks. 
Pure  bred  birds,  of  course,  are  desirable,  and  where  only  one 
species  is  reared  it  should  be  an  easy  matter  to  keep  the  strain 
pure.  The  mallards  are  more  easy  to  hand-rear,  and  they 
breed  better  in  captivity  than  the  black  ducks  and  the  mallard 
cross  is,  therefore,  considered  desirable  by  some  breeders. 

In  England  the  pin-tails  and  the  English  teal,  a  bird  somewhat 
similar  to  but  larger  than  our  green-winged  teal,  are  reared 
with  some  success  on  preserves  and  game  farms.  In  America 
the  wood-duck  has  been  found  easy  to  handle  by  those  who 
understand  the  bird's  habit  of  nesting  in  holes  in  trees.  These 
birds  also  have  been  exported  and  many  have  been  bred  abroad, 
so  that  we  now  get  many  of  our  wood-ducks  from  Belgium  and 
other  countries  where  they  did  not  occur  until  we  furnished  the 
stock,  a  sad  commentary  on  our  intelligence. 

In  some  states  the  game  breeders'  laws  only  permit  the  profit- 
able breeding  of  mallards  and  black  ducks.  This,  of  course, 

52 


is  quite  absurd,  since  we  should  encourage  the  breeding  of  wood- 
ducks  and  other  species  which  most  need  the  attention  of  breed- 
ers, and  we  should  not  be  obliged  to  send  money  abroad  to 
purchase  American  ducks.  Some  states  encourage  the  profit- 
able breeding  of  all  game,  and  no  doubt  all  of  them  will  before 
long,  since  the  game  breeders'  laws  are  popular  in  the  states 
where  they  have  been  given  a  trial,  and  they  have  resulted 
in  the  production  of  a  big  number  of  wild  ducks,  pheasants  and 
other  game. 

The  sea-ducks,  or  deep  water  ducks,  canvas-backs,  red- 
heads, scaups  and  others,  are  splendid  food  birds,  and  no 
doubt  the  breeding  of  these  fowls  for  sport  will  be  attempted 
later.  Some  experiments,  in  fact,  are  now  being  made.  I 
would  strongly  advise  the  breeding  of  these  birds  in  a  semi- 
wild  state  about  the  ponds  and  sloughs  where  they  formerly 
bred  in  great  abundance,  since  the  easiest  way  always  is  the 
best  way,  and  it  is  easier  to  breed  birds  in  places  which  they 
have  selected  than  it  is  to  introduce  them  to  places  which  may 
not  seem  desirable  to  them.  The  former  breeding  range  of 
the  canvas-back  certainly  extended  into  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin. I  have  seen  these  birds  and  the  other  deep  water 
ducks  breeding  abundantly  in  the  Dakotas.  The  Black- 
Hawk  Club,  in  Wisconsin,  and  the  other  duck  clubs  of  the  North- 
western states  should  experiment  with  the  sea  ducks  and,  of 
course,  these  birds  can  be  handled  on  many  marshes  in  Canada, 
provided  the  industry  of  duck  breeding  be  encouraged  before 
all  of  the  desirable  breeding  grounds  are  drained  in  the  interest 
of  agriculture.  I  have  long  favored  the  saving  of  some  of  the 
duck  breeding  grounds.  They  will  be  saved  when  it  is  known 
that  wild  duck  breeding  can  be  made  more  profitable  than 
agriculture.  The  Canadian  marshes  could  supply  the  world 
with  wild  ducks  and  eggs,  provided  the  industry  were  properly 
regulated. 


53 


pheasants  were  introduced 
"in  England  centuries  ago 
(the  date  is  uncertain)  and  their  prop- 
agation has  been  carried  on  exten- 
sively by  commercial  game  farms  as  well  as 
by  sportsmen,  and  although  there  was  not  a  pheasant  in  America 
until  the  year  1881,  when  a  few  birds  were  sent  from  China  to 
Oregon  by  Judge  Denny,  I  firmly  believe  that  in  five  or  ten 
years,  at  most,  there  will  be  more  pheasants  in  the  United 
States  than  there  are  in  any  country  in  the  world. 

Partridges  and  the  migratory  quail  of  Europe  have  also 
been  introduced  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  but  the  last  named  vanished  absolutely  and 
experiments  with  this  bird  have  been  abandoned.  A  few 
capercailzie,  black-cock  and  other  birds  have  been  imported,  but 
only  in  small  numbers,  and  the  experiments  with  these  birds 
are  unimportant. 

A  foolish  idea  had  prevailed  that  the  foreign  birds  are  better 
than  our  own  because  of  their  abundance  abroad,  but  the  truth 
of  the  matter  is,  our  grouse  partridges  or  quails  and  turkeys 
are  by  far  the  best  game  birds  in  the  world,  and  if  properly 
handled  they  can  be  kept  as  abundant  and  as  cheap  as  the 
foreign  birds  are. 

The  pheasants  which  have  been  introduced  have  multiplied 
rapidly  and  it  has  been  proven  that  they  will  thrive  almost  any- 
where in  the  United  States  and  in  Canada,  provided  they  be  prop- 
erly protected.  They  disappeared  as  "state"  birds  from  Kansas, 

54 


Ohio  and  other  states  because  they  cannot  stand  our  vermin 
and  some  illegal  shooting,  even  when  shooting  is  prohibited. 

We  now  have  several  thousand  pheasant  breeders,  some  of 
whom  produce  thousands  of  pheasants  every  year  for  sport. 
Many  State  Game  Departments  have  game  farms,  where 
thousands  of  pheasants  are  reared  every  season,  and  thousands 
of  birds  are  imported  annually  for  propagation.  The  industry 
of  pheasant  breeding  is  interesting  and  profitable,  and  no  good 
reason  can  be  assigned  why  the  pheasant  clubs  should  not  have 
pheasant-shooting,  just  as  trap-shooting  clubs  have  clay-bird 
shooting.  Many  now  prefer  to  shoot  something  which  is  good 
to  eat,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  the  pheasant  is  one  of  the 
most  excellent  food-birds  in  the  world. 

It  is  absurd  to  say  that  pheasants  purchased  or  bred  by 
syndicates  of  sportsmen  or  by  commercial  game  breeders 
belong  to  the  state,  and,  under  the  game  breeders'  laws  which 
are  popular  in  many  states,  the  private  ownership  of  pheasants 
is  recognized  so  long  as  the  birds  do  not  wander  from  the  grounds 
where  they  are  propagated  by  private  industry.  There  are 
several  hundred  small  breeders  in  Massachusetts  and  in  a 
recent  report  issued  by  the  Commissioners  of  Fisheries  and 
Game  of  that  state,  we  are  told  that  the  abundance  of  pheasants 
must  depend  on  the  many  small  breeders,  because  there  are 
more  people  who  can  breed  a  few  pheasants  than  there  are 
who  can  breed  thousands.  In  several  states  complaints  have 
been  made  to  the  Agricultural  Departments  by  farmers  about 
the  damage  done  by  state  pheasants,  and  in  answer  to  an  in- 
quiry addressed  by  the  Agricultural  Department  of  Massa- 
chusetts, asking  that  if  the  state  owned  the  pheasants  would  it 
remove  them  from  the  farms  where  they  were  found  to  be 
injurious,  the  Game  Department  replied  that  the  pheasants 
were  more  beneficial  than  harmful  and  that  it  would  not  be 
long  before  they  were  regarded  as  a  profitable  farm  crop. 

In  New  York  a  county  grange  is  reported  to  have  asked  the 
State  Game  Department  to  keep  its  pheasants  out  of  the  county. 
It  is  evident  that  the  farmers  own  most  of  the  shooting  grounds 
and  that  the  birds  can  be  produced  to  the  best  advantage  by 
those  who  deal  fairly  with  the  land  owners  as  many  sportsmen  do. 
The  state  birds,  of  course,  can  be  liberated  on  public  lands  and 
wild  lands  where  the  shooting  is  open  to  the  public.  The 
"overflow"  from  game  farms  and  clubs  adds  materially  to  the 

55 


public  shooting.  Many  pheasants  were  shot  for  miles  about 
the  farms  of  The  Clove  Valley  Club,  The  Game  Breeders' 
Association,  and  other  game  breeding  clubs,  by  persons  who 
had  never  shot  a  pheasant  until  the  clubs  began  liberating  them. 

The  pheasant  first  introduced  into  England,  which  is  now 
often  called  the  English  pheasant,  is  the  dark-necked  species, 
Colchicus,  which  has  no  white  ring  or  collar  about  the  neck.  The 
ring-necked  pheasant,  Torquatus,  and  other  species  were  intro- 
duced in  England  during  the  present  century  and  the  birds  have 
interbred  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  said  to  be  unusual  to  see  a 
pure  bred  dark-necked  pheasant  in  the  English  markets. 

The  birds  first  introduced  into  the  United  States  were  the 
ring-necks,  and  these  are  more  common  everywhere  than  the 
dark-necked  birds  are.  In  Austria  and  Hungary  many  dark- 


Rin^neeked 


necked  birds  are  bred  in  a  wild  state  and  many  breeders  believe 
that  this  species  is  less  likely  to  stray  and  on  this  account  it  is 
the  better  bird  for  wild  breeding  operations.  I  have  reared 
many  birds  of  both  species  and  they  seem  to  be  equally  good 
for  hand-rearing  operations.  Both  are  good  marks,  but  they 
do  not  lie  to  the  dogs  as  well  as  many  species  of  our  indigenous 
game  birds  do,  excepting  on  certain  grounds  where  the  running 
is  not  good  by  reason  of  natural  obstructions  such  as  occur  in 
tufted  marsh  fields  and  other  places  where  there  are  barriers 
to  speeding. 

The  Mongolian  pheasant,  a  large  species  having  the  white 
collar,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  pheasant,  and  a  few  others,  are 
considered  desirable  by  breeders,  but  the  common  ring-necked 
and  dark-necked  birds  will,  no  doubt,  become  the  most 
plentiful  here  as  elsewhere. 

56 


The  pheasants  persist  in  laying  when  their  eggs  are  stolen,  and 
by  hatching  the  eggs  under  barn-yard  fowls  it  is  an  easy  matter 
to  have  a  big  lot  of  pheasants  on  suitable  ground.  The  birds 
thrive  better  on  valley  farms,  where  there  are  good  fields  of 
grain  and  grass,  than  they  do  in  the  mountains,  where  the 
young  birds  often  are  decimated  by  cold  rains  and  where  the 
older  birds  are  more  given  to  straying  to  seek  more  agreeable 
surroundings.  The  dealers  in  pheasant  foods  issue  small 
booklets  telling  how  to  rear  the  birds,  and  while  skilled  game 
keepers,  no  doubt,  produce  the  most  birds,  many  small  breeders 
who  understand  poultry  have  been  very  successful.  I  recently 
have  heard  from  some  small  breeders  who  have  been  very 
successful.  One  says  he  sold  three  thousand  eggs  this  year  and 
had  orders  for  several  thousand  more  which  he  could  not  fill. 
The  eggs  sell  for  $25  and  $30  per  hundred.  The  live  birds  sell 
for  from  $5  to  $7  per  pair.  Many  birds  were  sold  as  food  last 
season  in  the  New  York  markets  for  $2.50  each. 

The  methods  of  hand-rearing  pheasants  are  very  similar  to 
the  methods  of  poultry  rearers.  Some  breeders  confine  the 
stock  birds  in  large  pens  which  contain  a  hundred  or  more 
hens  and  about  twenty  cock  birds.  Little  brush  covers  are 
provided  and  the  eggs  are  gathered  daily  and  hatched  under 
barn-yard  hens.  Other  breeders  use  many  small  pens  each 
containing  five  or  six  hens  and  one  cock. 

When  the  young  pheasants  are  one  day  old  they  are  taken 
with  their  foster  mothers  to  a  rearing  field  where  the  hens  are 
confined  in  coops  and  the  chicks  are  permitted  to  run  out  in 
little  yards  or  runs  inclosed  by  boards  or  wire  until  they  are  a 
week  or  ten  days  old,  when  the  fenders  are  removed  and  the 
little  birds  are  permitted  to  have  a  wider  range  and  to  chase 
grasshoppers  and  other  insects  in  the  field  which  is  inclosed  with 
chicken  wire  to  keep  out  vermin.  Traps  are  placed  on  poles 
set  in  and  about  the  field  and  the  keeper  shoots  any  hawks, 
crows  or  other  vermin  which  mav  endeavor  to  take  his  birds. 


Some  breeders  have  permitted  the  hens  to  run  with  the  young 
birds  in  protected  fields  and  woods,  just  as  hens  are  permitted 
to  move  about  with  their  chickens,  and  much  success  has 
resulted  from  this  method  both  at  State  Game  Farms  and  on 
private  preserves. 

The  incubator  is  often  used  until  the  eggs  are  nearly  hatched, 
when  they  are  removed  and  placed  under  ordinary  barn-yard 
hens  or  bantams,  and  later  taken  with  the  hens  to  the  rearing 
field  or  permitted  to  run  with  the  hens  as  above  described. 
I  had  great  success  with  some  pheasants  which  I  permitted  to 
run  in  a  corn  field,  and  my  friend,  Mr.  Bigelow,  reared  a  lot 
of  pheasants  in  this  way,  letting  the  young  birds  run  in  asparagus 
and  rye  fields.  The  young  birds  are  shut  up  in  coops  at  night 
and  liberated  in  the  morning.  For  the  first  few  weeks  they 
are  fed  on  specially  prepared  meals,  which  are  supplied  by 
dealers  with  instructions  for  their  use.  Hard  boiled  eggs  are 
chopped  fine  and  mixed  with  the  meal.  Lettuce  and  other 
green  foods  should  be  supplied,  also,  and  little  pans  of  water 
should  be  placed  in  front  of  the  coops. 

I  have  had  some  good  sport  shooting  pheasants  over  dogs, 
but  in  countries  where  they  are  abundant  the  shooting  is  far 
more  difficult  because  the  birds  are  driven  over  the  guns  and 
they  go  high  and  fast  when  they  are  well  handled.  We  have 
plenty  of  room  for  every  one  who  wishes  to  do  so  to  have 
pheasants  in  abundance  and  to  shoot  them  over  dogs  or  by 
driving,  as  they  may  prefer.  Pheasant  clubs  can  be  con- 
ducted with  small  dues,  especially  if  other  game  is  reared 
on  the  same  grounds.  I  am  quite  sure  that  we  soon  will  have 
an  abundance  of  cheap  pheasants  in  our  markets,  and  I  hope 
more  attention  will  be  given  in  the  future  to  our  quail,  grouse, 
wild  fowl  and  waders,  which  are  even  more  interesting  objects 
of  pursuit,  and  equally  as  good,  or  better,  as  food  than  the 
pheasants. 


European  gray  partridge  (often 
called  Hungarian  partridge)  is  a  fine,  big, 
brown  bird  somewhat  larger  than  our 
quail  or  partridge,  but  it  is  no  better  on 
the  table  and  by  no  means  so  good  a 

bird  in  the  field  as  our  bob-white.  I  have  had  compara- 
tively little  experience  with  these  birds.  My  only  experi- 
ment consisted  in  the  liberation  of  about  a  hundred  on  land 
which  undoubtedly  did  not  suit  them.  It  was  an  especially 
dangerous  place  because  thousands  of  pheasants  and  wild 
ducks  were  reared  under  wire  on  the  adjacent  land  and  many 
foxes  and  other  predaceous  animals,  which  were  attracted 
to  the  place,  found  it  easier  to  chase  gray  partridges  than  it 
was  to  get  at  the  birds  in  the  inclosures.  The  result  was  all  the 
partridges  were  destroyed  or  left  the  place,  and  I  became  con- 
vinced that  fields  near  those  where  hand-reared  birds  are  con- 
fined are  not  as  safe  or  desirable,  for  either  quail,  grouse  or 
partridges,  as  fields  which  are  not  so  attractive  to  vermin. 
A  few  partridges  were  shot  in  the  Fall  several  miles  east  of  the 
place  where  my  birds  were  liberated,  but  the  following  season 
local  gunners  told  me  they  were  extinct.  The  grounds  were 
well  shot  over  for  miles  about  by  quail  shooters  with  excellent 
dogs  and  no  partridges  were  observed  anywhere. 

I  have  no  doubt  the  State  Game  Departments  and  clubs  and 
individuals  may  successfully  introduce  these  excellent  game 
birds,  but  I  feel  sure  that  beat  keepers  must  be  employed  before 
any  good  results  will  be  obtained.  The  State  Game  Warden  of 
Ohio  is  making  an  experiment  this  year  on  the  lines  suggested 
and  he  has  sent  me  an  excellent  photograph  showing  a  partridge 
nest  which  was  taken  in  an  unprotected  field.  Birds  have 

59 


nested,  at  widely  separated  points  in  other  states  and  they  have 
reared  broods  without  practical  protection,  but  later  reports 
often  indicated  that  none  of  the  birds  could  be  found.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  State  Departments  will  continue  their 
experiments,  using  large  numbers  of  partridges,  and  that  in- 
dividuals also  will  continue  their  efforts  until  we  thoroughly 
understand  how  to  make  these  birds  plentiful.  But  I  sincerely 
hope  our  quail  and  other  game  birds  will  not  be  neglected  under 
the  mistaken  idea  that  they  are  not  so  good  as  the  imported 
birds.  Quail  and  grouse  and  their  eggs  have  been  hard  to  get, 
but  the  laws  encouraging  game  breeding  promise  soon  to 
remedy  this  unfortunate  situation. 


I  believe  it  will  not  be  long  before  every  one  who  shoots  will 
have  excellent  shooting  both  at  pheasants  and  partridges,  and 
also  at  our  grouse,  quail  and  other  game,  and  I  base  the  opinion 
upon  the  size  of  the  country  and  the  number  of  posted  farms 
which  can  be  restored  to  sport,  and  also  on  the  rapidity  with 
which  propagation  is  being  undertaken  and  the  encouragement 
which  is  being  given  to  such  industry  by  the  game  breeders' 
enactments. 


Twelve  Gauge  Loads  Suggested  for 
Field  Shooting 

It  is  not  possible  to  make  positive  recommendation  as  to 
the  best  loads  for  shooting  different  kinds  of  game,  because 
there  are  no  general  rules  that  apply  under  all  conditions.  A 
load  that  is  very  effective  in  most  guns  may  be  less  so  in  some 
particular  gun.  In  cold  regions,  birds  are  usually  more  heavily 
feathered  than  in  warm  climates  and  consequently  it  takes 
heavier  loads  to  kill  them.  The  following  table  represents  the 
average  for  12  ga.  guns,  but  it  may  prove  advisable  to  modify 
it  under  varying  circumstances.  The  table  of  comparative 
loads  on  the  next  page  affords  a  basis  for  determining  the 
proper  charges  for  different  gauges. 


GAME 

POWDER 

SHOT 

Infallible 

E.  C.  or 
Orange  Extra 

Quantity 

Size 

Rabbit 

i 

i 
i 

! 
1 
{ 

24  grains 

24  grains 

22  or 
24  grains 

24  grains 

24  or 
25  grains 

26  or 

28  grains 

28  grains 
28  grains 

24  or 
25  grains 

3  drams 

3  drams 

2%or 
3  drams 

3  drams 

3  or 
3%  drams 

3Kor 
3J^  drams 

3^  drams 
3%  drams 

3  or 
3J/8  drams 

1H<». 

l^oz. 

lor 
IJioz. 

iHoz. 

IK  or 
IJ^oz. 

l^oz. 
IJioz. 
iKoz. 

iy8oT 

IJioz. 

6  or  7 
8  or  9 
9  or  10 
8  or  9 
6  or  7 

4,  5  or  6 
1,  2  or  3 
Tori 

6  or  7 

Squirrel  .    ... 

Quail  

Bob-  White  

Woodcock  

Snipe 

Plover  

Ruffed  Grouse,  Pheasant  or 
Partridge        

Ducks  

Geese  

Swan  

( 
} 

Turkey 

Prairie  Chicken    

Pinnated  Grouse  

61 


Comparative  Loads 

Infallible  is  a  "dense"  and  E.  C.  is  a  "bulk"  smokeless 
shotgun  powder. 

This  distinction  is  important,  because  a  smaller  quantity 
of  a  dense  powder  will  produce  a  given  explosive  force  than 
would  be  required  to  produce  an  equal  force  with  a  bulk  powder. 
Bulk  smokeless  powders  and  black  powders  are  loaded  by 
measure  and  dense  powders  by  weight.  If  a  shooter  who  was 
accustomed  to  measuring  three  dram  loads  of  bulk  smokeless 
or  black  powder  made  the  mistake  of  using  the  same  load  of 
dense  powder,  the  results  might  be  disastrous. 

Now  that  factory  loaded  shells  are  almost  universally  used, 
and  that  those  who  still  load  their  own  shells  understand  the 
different  powders,  this  danger  is  practically  eliminated.  For 
most  shooting,  Infallible  and  E.  C.  give  equally  satisfactory 
results  and  a  choice  between  them  is  a  matter  of  individual 
preference.  However,  if  shells  are  to  be  stored  in  very  damp 
climates,  or  exposed  to  excessive  moisture,  those  loaded  with 
Infallible  are  preferable  because  Infallible  is  absolutely  water- 
proof, while  any  bulk  powder  will  absorb  a  certain  amount  of 
moisture. 

The  comparisons  in  the  table  below  show  the  commonly 
used  loads  of  Infallible,  both  by  weight  and  by  measure,  with 
the  E.  C.  and  Orange  Extra  loads  of  corresponding  strengths. 
If  you  are  shooting  three  drams  of  E.  C.,  or  any  bulk  smokeless 
or  black  powder,  you  will  readily  see  by  referring  to  the  table 
that  the  equivalent  load  of  Infallible  is  24  grains. 


Infallible 
28  Gauge  Loads 

24  Gauge  Loads 
20  Gauge  Loads 

16  Gauge  Loads 


Weight 
in  Grains 


Measure 
in  Drams 


12  Gauge  Loads 


f  14  grains  or 
116     "  Ys     '       < 

16  grains  or    J^  dram . 
f  16  grains  or    %  dram . 
\18     "         "1 
j  18  grains  or  1      dram . 

1 20  "B     "  iys  '    . 

20  grains  or  1  %  drams 

22 


Equivalent  in  Strength  to 

dram.  .  1%  drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 
"1.2          "      "    "      " 

2      drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 
2      drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 


10  Gauge  Loads 


*/o 

$ 


(  26  grains  o    1 J^  drams 

•j  28 

(30 


2%  drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 

&A       "       "     "       "        " 

2J^  drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 


. 

.  3%  drams  of  E.  C.  or  L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra 


Caution — Infallible  and  E.  C.  are  for  use  in  shotguns  only,  and  must  not  be  used  in  rifles  or 
revolvers. 

62 


Farming  with  the  Help  of 
Dynamite 

On  the  modern  farm,  and  by  progressive  farmers, 
dynamite  is  used  to  serve  a  multitude  of  purposes. 
Whenever  it  is  properly  used  it  increases  efficiency,  in- 
creases crops,  decreases  labor  and  decreases  expense. 
It  has  proven  its  ability  to  do  these  things  in  many 
fields  of  agricultural  labor. 

HERCULES       DYNAMITE 

is  used  extensively  for  sub-soiling,  tree  planting,  stump 
and  rock  removal,  ditch  running,  the  blasting  of  cis- 
terns, and  other  work  of  a  similar  nature. 

Probably  the  results  produced  by  sub-soiling  and  in 
tree  planting  are  the  most  interesting  because  they  are 
the  most  remarkable.  Very  often  the  crop  yield  from  a 
sub-soiled  field  will  more  than  double  that  from  the 
same  field  before  sub-soiling  was  done — an  increase  of 
100  per  cent.  This  has  happened  with  corn,  wheat,  rye, 
hay  and  other  crops.  When  trees  are  planted  in  a 
dynamited  instead  of  a  spade-dug  hole  they  develop 
more  rapidly,  are  stronger  and  bear  more  heavily. 

Sub-soiling  gives  new  life  to  the  ground.  It  breaks 
up  the  hard  sub-soil,  thereby  improving  drainage  and 
giving  the  crop  new  and  untouched  plant  food. 

You  should  write  for  the  book,  "Progressive  Culti- 
vation." It  tells  how,  when  and  why  to  use  dynamite 
on  the  farm.  To  many,  it  has  proved  an  eye-opener 
and  a  money-saver. 

HERCULES  POWDER  CO. 

CHICAGO,  ILL.  NEW  YORK.  N.  Y.  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH 

DENVER,  COLO.  PITTSBURG,  KAN.  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

HAZLETON,  PA.  PITTSBURGH,  PA.  ST.  Louis,  Mo. 

JOPLIN,  Mo.  WILMINGTON,  DEL. 

SUBSIDIARY 
HERCULES  POWDER   SALES    COMPANY 

Memphis,  Tenn.  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

63 


A  Powder  for  Every  Purpose 

No  matter  what  kind  of  work  it  is,  if  it  requires  an 
explosive,  there  is  a  Hercules  Powder  just  suited  for  the 
job.  Or  if  it's  sport  in  the  field  or  at  the  traps,  there  is  a 
Hercules  Powder  that  will  get  the  full  efficiency  out  of 
your  rifle,  shotgun  or  revolver. 

Each  Hercules  Powder  is  without  a  superior  for  its 
purpose.  Careful  selection  of  raw  materials,  skillful 
methods  of  manufacture,  exacting  tests  of  each  lot  be- 
fore it  leaves  the  mill — these  are  the  factors  which  make 
the  name  "Hercules"  a  sign  of  the  highest  quality  and 
of  absolute  reliability  in  explosives. 

The  following  are  a  few  of  the  many  products  that 
bear  the  name  Hercules : 

Hercules  Smokeless  Shotgun  Powders — Infallible  and  E.  C. 
Hercules  Black  Sporting  Powder— L.  &  R.  Orange  Extra. 
Hercules  Smokeless  Rifle  Powders — Sharpshooter,  Lightning, 

W.  A.  .30  Cal.,  Unique. 

Hercules  Smokeless  Revolver  Powder — Bullseye. 
Hercules  Dynamite — Nitre-glycerin  Dynamite,  Extra  (Ammonia) 

Dynamite,  L.  F.  (Low  Freezing)  Dynamite,   Gelatin  Dynamite, 

Blasting  Gelatin,  L.  F.  Gelatin,  Farm   Dynamite,  Permissibles : 

Red  H  and  Xpdite. 
Hercules  Blasting  Powders. 
Hercules  Blasting  Supplies — Complete  assortment  of  supplies, 

including  Fuse,  Blasting  Caps,  Electric  Blasting  Caps,  Blasting 

Machines,  etc. 

Three  of  our  books  should  be  of  especial  interest  to  you — one  or 
all  are  yours  for  the  asking: 

"Progressive  Cultivation/'  written  in  a  plain,  understandable  style, 
explains  how  Hercules  Dynamite  will  help  you  produce  bigger,  better 
crops.  "Hercules  Sporting  Powders"  should  be  read  by  everyone  who 
owns  a  rifle,  shotgun  or  revolver.  "Trapshooting"  treats  of  this 
delightful  sport  from  the  viewpoint  of  both  the  veteran  and  the 
beginner.  Write  today  for  copies  of  these  booklets. 

HERCULES    POWDER    COMPANY 

CHICAGO,  ILL.  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.          SALT  LAKE  CITY,  UTAH 

DENVER,  COLO.         PITTSBURG,  KAN.  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

HAZLETON,  PA.          PITTSBURGH,  PA.  ST.  Louis,  Mo. 

JOPLIN,  Mo.  WlIJUINGTON,  DEL. 

SUBSIDIARY 
HERCULES   POWDER    SALES  COMPANY 

Memphis,  Tenn.  Knoxville,  Tenn. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


m$  7   1935 

JAN  ll  1937 

DEC  ,  2  1937 

iwVf 

fife 

*&  • 
•'$?- 

^<w 

j  ,,ar'53PK. 

• 

LD  21-100m-8,'34 

5942 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


